Melting Fire
by Capelthwaite
Summary: Lily needs a job. James runs a restaurant. James hires Lily. Lily gets a job! All is good? Oh and by the way, Lily hates James to the point where she would rather swallow the giant squid whole than breathe the same air as him. So all is... not good?
1. Act 1, Part I

**Disclaimer: Anything recognizable belongs J.K. Rowling.**

**A/N: This is my first attempt at a full length fan fiction so constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. Enjoy and thanks for reading!**

Running water has always helped her focus; the hotter the better. Others found it rather strange that her favourite place to think was in the shower. Most people usually used the library, their beds, or maybe outside underneath their favourite tree. But Lily Evans preferred the privacy of the shower with near-scathing water softly beating her back. She often lost track of time hence why she was always last in line for the bathroom in the mornings. This one was no exception.

Nearly breaching her twenty minute time limit, she turned off the water. Lily stepped out reluctantly and gooseflesh slid down her skin. Shivering, she quickly wrapped herself in her fuzzy green towel and shut the mirror cabinet which one of the other girls must have forgotten to close. She swiped the condensation from the mirror to look at herself. Her reflection showed a plain but pretty heart shaped face with stunning almond shaped emerald eyes and a pointed little nose. Her mouth was small but her lips were full. Soft freckles sprinkled across her cheeks, a feature she's always secretly disliked. The two spots of colour high on her cheeks contrasted her otherwise pale porcelain skin. But her favourite part of herself was her hair. Reaching up again, she wiped the mirror once more to include her hair in her reflection and nearly dropped her towel at the sight.

She screamed. Not just the little 'Ahhh' that people fake at surprise parties but the earsplitting scream of terror made famous by horror films. The mirror quivered. Still sopping wet, the cry echoed behind her as she scrambled through the room and down the stairs into the Gryffindor common room. She made a beeline for a particular group of young men, roughly bypassing several shocked schoolmates. She was literally steaming with rage.

"POTTER!" She yelled. The young man raised his eyes from the Quidditch Weekly on his lap. He looked at her through thick framed glasses that sat on the bridge of his angled nose. His hazel eyes twinkled mischievously. James Potter was what he thought to be every girl's dream, and most girls heartily agreed. He was lean, muscled, and handsome, and he knew it. The man sat in his chair like a king on his throne. He ran a large calloused hand through his messy dark hair and grinned.

"I know you did it! I know you did it, Potter, you bloody nitwit!" Lily hissed at him, her words seething.

James slowly closed his magazine. He put on a mask of pure innocence and asked, "Whatever do you mean?"

As intended, this made Lily boil in her irritation. She stomped her way over to James so close that the drops from her moist hair dampened the pages on his lap. "What do I mean? _What do I mean?_" She tugged at the end of a strand of her hair. Her usual beautiful auburn locks were now a blinding array of colours. As if dipped in dreadful rainbow paint, her hair was a poppy red near her left ear and ended in a neon green at the tips with every other colour in between. She made a very unladylike growl and added, "Does this look normal to you? Does my hair look like every day?"

James took this as an invitation to ogle. His eyes roamed over her face and hair before drifting down her body. Lily followed his gaze and blushed crimson. In her haste, she had forgot to get dressed and was now clad only in a towel. A _wet_ towel. James let out an appreciative whistle as he watched the steam roll of her skin. She flicked his forehead and he yelped.

From across the room, another girl rose from her seat and closed the book that she clearly couldn't continue with all this commotion. She was tall and slender with the figure of a model and the glamour of a Veela. She ran a slender, bronzed hand through her short ice-blond hair before saying, "Relax Lils, you can just change it back."

Sirius Black, a tall lean boy with jet black hair snickered next to James. He nudged his hazel-eyed friend, hinting at something more.

"I can't Shay." She made a note to glare at the raven haired boy. "Don't you think I might have already thought of that? They didn't use magic, at least not through a spell. Otherwise my shampoo would have washed it out. I learned from the last time." She growled at the recollection. "I'm assuming that's why Black is rolling on the floor laughing his ass off."

"We—_hehe_—did—_hehe_—no such thing," Sirius said in between his fit of laughter. Shay rolled her eyes at his immaturity.

"Come on, I'll fix it for you." Shay shot a look at James who shrugged with a playful smile, and motioned for Lily to follow her up the staircase. She was at the first step when she turned around to see Lily glaring daggers at her arch nemesis.

"You'd better learn to sleep with your eyes open, Potter," she hissed with venom in her voice, "because I swear I'm going to make you regret this."

* * *

"Are you serious? I have to stay like this?" The two girls were walking through the halls towards the Great Hall, one of whom was shielding her rainbow hair from the pointing, giggling students. She leered at a certain third year who was laughing particularly loudly. To Shay, she said, "I can't. I won't. I'll just skip breakfast. It's social suicide if I walk in there."

Shay glared at the third year, brusquely making them shut up and look away. She turned her attention back to Lily. "You've been through worse. The Marauders have turned you green and gave you boils and changed your clothes without you knowing and—"

_"Thank_ _you _Shay. I'm totally aware of what I've been put through before and I don't think I need a reminder. Besides, that doesn't make my present predicament any better." Lily shielded her hair from the rest of the students as they reached the doors.

"I promise that right after our classes, the potion should be done. You'll just use it like shampoo and it'll wash away. At least I think so." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "This is the first time it has ever been used on anyone…"

"Shay!" Her face was shocked and serious.

"I'm kidding." Shay smiled at her, clearly amused at her friend's reaction. "Actually I'm not." Lily glared at her. "It's okay, I just threw a bunch of things together but I'm quite positive it'll work."

Shay gave Lily a sheepish smile before pushing her into the Great Hall. A wave of noise smothered the pair, the voices of all the students in the morning right before their first classes and rushing last-minute to finish their work. Either that or they were stuffing their faces with the stacks of food that piled atop the four long, mahogany tables, fueling themselves for the long day ahead of them. However, the moment the pair of girls stepped foot into the hall, everyone fell silent for a moment, their heads turning to see the miserable attempt at art that was Lily's hair. The sound of a quill dropping could probably be heard. The silence was shattered by a robust laughter and was echoed by the rest of student population.

Lily gave out a whimper and made a futile attempt at shielding her hair from the eyes of the snickering students. Shay rolled her eyes and guided the sullen girl towards one of the few people who weren't laughing. The girl waved at the pair, beckoning them to sit next to her. Shay returned it and led Lily to her spot at the table. She glared at everyone who was the slightest bit amused, automatically causing them to shrink away in fear or shame; either one worked in this case.

"Lily! Shay! Why is everyone laugh―oh…er… wow…your hair." Obviously shocked, she looked at Shay with her curious blue eyes for an answer. Shay simply looked towards the three boys who were grinning from ear to ear on the other side of the table. "Marauders again, huh?"

"Yeah, who else would be responsible, Julia? ARGH! I just wish I would go over there and smack that smirk of Potter's face." Lily was seething.

"What about the mutt?" Shay added, pointing at the raven haired boy who sat next to James. "He's not any better."

Without turning her attention away from her attempt to murder James with the intensity of her glare, she responded, "I don't care about Black, I know that it wasn't his idea. This has Potter written all over it."

The girl named Julia pulled the angry pair down to sit next to her. Obviously not in the mood for arguing against them on the subject of the Marauders, she decided to divert their attention. Julia held her hand out, palm facing out so she had a clear view of her nails. She bit her lip and her face moulded into a pensive expression. "Lily, give me an idea of how I should design my nails."

The random turn of conversation brought Lily out of her rant. "Um…blossoms." Julia scrunched her face into a look of pure concentration and suddenly, a peach blossom bloomed from the edge of each of her nails and a thin white line coated each tip. She opened her eyes and smiled in satisfactory. With their previous conversation forgotten, Lily relished in a familiar feeling of amazement. She was still mesmerized every time Julia did that. You see, Julia was a metamorphmagus.

"I bet every girl wished that they could do that," Shay commented. "It would save them galleons not buying lipstick, nail polish, and other beauty products."

"Well I guess that's only one of the perks," Julia said smiling. She turned to her other friend. "So did you get a response from that job?" she asked knowing that she already did but looking for something that would cheer her friend up. Lily has been looking for a job for the last two months.

Lily lifted her head from its previous position on the table. "Yeah. It's at that new lounge at Hogsmeade. I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing, I just signed up for anything really. It's new so it was looking for employees. But I'm supposed to be there for some meeting the day before opening night."

Shay looked at her suspiciously. "You're not talking about The Griffon by any chance, are you?"

"Yeah, actually, you know it too? It's opening this Friday."

Shay looked away from her, her eyes shifty. "I got a job there too, as the headliner for the evenings." The other girls nodded. Shay, growing uncomfortable, changed the subject. "Okay, I don't know about you but I'm starving."

The others nodded in agreement and began to shove food onto their plates. Lily accidentally knocked some syrup onto her neighbour's plate.

"Watch it, rainbow head." The boy snickered at his own joke, his young friends joining in on the laughter. Lily looked at him angrily yet refused to retort. Shay on the other hand was not so well mannered. She grabbed the boy's hair and dunked his face into the porridge in front of him. The hot cereal dripped off the boy's face as he rose to glare at the light haired girl. She raised an eyebrow at him, daring him to do something. Afraid, he and his friends scampered off.

Turning to the other girls who were shaking their heads in disappointment, she said, "What? He asked for it. The privilege of insulting Lily Evans lies with just me, Julia Rhodes, and apparently a certain James Potter." Shay giggled as she ducked the flying biscuit sent her way.

* * *

After their eventful day the girls made their way back to their dorms. All of them, especially Lily, were tired of the constant jabs and jokes that were made about her hair. People would constantly call Lily 'rainbow head', 'clown wannabe', and other things such as―

"Oh look! The maniacal _mud blood _has finally showed her true colours," a voice sneered from behind them. Lily looked at them and let out an exasperated sigh. There were only a few people whom she loathed more than James Potter and they were inconveniently walking towards the girls. Shay scowled.

Snape, Malfoy, Avery, and Malciber were strutting towards them. Malfoy stuck his pointed chin high in the air, attempting to look down on the girls. "Mudbloods, half-bloods, and blood traitors… my father always thought that Dumbledore was insane for letting filth such as yourselves into this school. You're not even worthy of wiping the grim off my shoes much less breath the same air as us well bred individuals." He smirked at them.

Shay tensed and her amber eyes narrowed into slits. "You are a nasty little bugger, you know that? If anyone doesn't deserve to be here, it's you and your spineless idiots. I bet even a muggle born midget could kick your sorry ass."

Lily grabbed Shay's flexed arm and turned her to face her. "You're taking the bait. He's just goading you. Just ignore him, Shay. He's not worth it." She lowered her voice. "And it's not nice to call the first years midgets."

"So the mudblood is too afraid to fight us," taunting her, Malfoy turned to his friends. "She and her filthy little friends know that they'll lose in a duel against their _superiors_," he elongated his last word into a slow provoking drawl. He crossed his arms over his chest and stood smirking at the girls.

With each word, Lily's resolve weakened until she whipped out her wand. She fisted the front of Malfoy's shirt, pointed the tip at his neck and hissed, "Not so tough now, are you?" His facial expression changed from arrogance to slight panic. The other Slytherins took out their wands, as did the girls. They faced each other, wand arms outstretched and ready.

Lily looked around. If everyone used their wands, they could all cause a lot of damage, she thought. Worse of all, as Head Girl, the blame would rest on her shoulders as she chose to resolve the matter through violence. Instead, she said, "Let's see how well you can do without your wands." She let go of his shirt and shoved him back forcefully. "We'll do this the old fashioned way." Malfoy scrunched up his face in confusion but then grinned confidently.

He tutted and rolled up his sleeve. "So unsophisticated. But I suppose I can't expect any more from a lowly mudblood," he sneered. "No matter. We'll just prove how we're superior in more ways than one."

He looked at his fellow Slytherins and gave them a silent signal. The boys lowered their wands and tucked them in their pockets. Julia and Shay looked at Lily. She grinned.

"Okay then." She lowered her wand. She stepped back from Malfoy and next to her friends who pocketed their wands just as she did. "Bring it on."

The boys grinned. The biggest one, Malciber, lunged at Julia. Malfoy smirked anticipating the welcomed sound of fist hitting flesh, clearly void of any reservations about not hitting girls. However, he was sorely disappointed. His ears were met with a scream but it was not uttered by any of the girls. Malciber's fist was caught in a fur covered hand, a paw rather. Fearfully, he lifted his head to be faced with a set of open jaws. And they roared. Grabbing his fist, it threw him effortlessly to the floor as if he weighed no more than a quill.

Malciber gave another scream and scrambled away from the beast. Snape took a step back and pulled out his wand.

The girls laughed as the beast transformed; its fur bristled as it sank back into creamy smooth skin and its claws disappeared. Its jaws shortened and eventually, Julia was left in its place with a proud grin plastered across her face. She patronized him with a wink, clawed the air and gave a little snarl.

The boys took out their wands. Malfoy growled at the girls and let out a spell. "_Crucio_!"

His spell streaked towards the Gryffindors. Lily's expression grew into one of concentration and waved her hands towards the surrounding set of armours that lined the walls of the hall. To a stranger who didn't know who Lily was, it would have looked to them as if she were trying to usher the armours to move in front of her by sheer power of will. However, to the people who did know her would recognize that that was _exactly_ what she was doing.

In a fraction of a second, the closest full-plated medieval armour glided through the air and took the full force of the curse. Malfoy's eyes were as large as saucers. Before he could recover, four more of them raced towards the group of stunned Slytherins. Their arms were outstretched and grabbed the boys, encaging them against their cool metal chests.

There was one exception, however. Before one particular armour was able to reach Severus Snape, he whipped out his wand and yelled, "_REDUCTO_!"

The armour stopped short of reaching the boy and shattered into pieces from the inside out. He looked at the destroyed clumps of metal, his chest heaving. Then he turned to face the girls, furious. The pointed his wand at Shay. "_Sectumsempra_!"

Again, Lily summoned the armours to shield her from the spell. The dark magic split the unfortunate armour in half from the shoulder to the hip and both halves dropped like a rock. Momentarily relieved that her friend wasn't hit, Lily let her arms drop to her sides. Little did she know, the sly slippery Slytherin followed up behind his spell. As the armour dropped, it revealed Snape in the midst of reciting a spell right behind it.

"_Stupi_-" He was interrupted as his wand flew out of his hand and landed in Julia's grip. He mentally scolded himself for overlooking their ability to use non-verbal spells. He backed away and tried to make an escape.

He didn't make it very far. In his sudden rush for escape, he tripped. Prepared to hit the ground he was surprised when the front of his shirt was holding him up, preventing him from hitting the floor. Hovering inches above his own face was Shay, her fist clenched around his collar.

"Let go of me, you leech!" he hissed at her face. Her eyes narrowed but she grinned. He watched in horror as her golden eyes suddenly turned pitch black, the whites of her eyes no longer visible. She gave a frightening smile that revealed two pairs of razor-sharp canine teeth: fangs. He struggled in her hold, trying to pry himself from her hands. His legs kicked furiously and his grimy hands perspired against Shays iron grip.

He trembled in fear, his body tense and a bead of sweat made its way from his brow to his chin.

"G-get away from m-me, you filthy bl-blood sucker or else…" he stuttered, his voice broken. She grinned at his frail attempt at a threat and lowered her lips towards his throat. He was shivering, his hands clawed at hers in an attempt to get her to release him. He could feel her hot breath on his neck when a voice interrupted.

"Shay, that's enough," Julia said. "Look at him. He's about to wet himself."

Shay's grip went slack. The Slytherin dropped to the floor with a _thud_ and he scrambled to get back up. He ran past the suits of armour that were holding his friends captive.

"Why do you have to ruin my fun?" Shay turned to look at her friends, her eyes amber once more and teased, "I was just getting started."

"Oh, don't whine Shady. You should be above toying with your fellow students," Lily scolded her but the slight upturn of her lips gave away her amusement. Looking back at the rest of the Slytherins, she snapped her fingers and the armours' grip went loose. The boys dropped to the floor. Avery and Malciber fled, not wanting to find out what else the girls were capable of. Malfoy stayed in an attempt at saving his bruised pride. He raised his wand, his arm shaking. Shay looked at him. Her eyes began to shroud in black once more and she gave him that horrifying grin. He trembled under her gaze and stumbled backwards.

"Mudbloods and blood traitors, you filthy little vermin," he spat, determined to have the last word before quickly stalking away.

"Well that was fun…" Julia smiled. She combed her fingers through her straight black hair. She turned to Shay. "You're occasionally quite terrifying, do you know that?"

"Yup and proud of it!" Shay offered a huge smile and walked closer back to her friends.

Lily shivered. "I'm just glad that we're not on the receiving side of that glare."

"I'll take that as a term of endearment since you two are freaks too. With wandless magic, shape shifting, and my occasionally horrifying tendencies, we are the greatest, albeit strangest, witches to grace the halls of Hogwarts."

Blushing, Lily smiled at her friends. They turned to go back to the Gryffindor tower, Lily relieved to finally get her hair back to its original colour. She was about to mention the situation concerning her hair when the girls suddenly heard a hollow _crash _followed by a _thud _behind them.

The girls turned around. They saw the wreckage that was left over from their demonstration of power with the Slytherins. Suits of armour were scattered across the hall. Shards of metal littered the floor and there was the one that was split in half. They walked towards the source of the noise. Behind one of the six foot tall armours was a young, short, brunette girl. She lay on the floor unconscious with a growing bruise on her forehead. Her books and bag lay scattered around her. Just by looking at her, it was obvious she ran into the metal suit without watching where she was going.

Shay looked at Lily with a humorous grin and said, "I think you just knocked out a midget."

**A/N: Thank you for reading. Please leave a review! I understand that some details do not follow those provided by J.K. Rowling's novels. In this story, metamorphmagus is equivalent to shapeshifter, exactly like Mystique's power in X-Men. The idea behind Shay's vampire is taken from several sources and folktales. **


	2. Act 1, Part II

**Disclaimer: Anything recognizable is property of the brilliant J.K. Rowling.**

**A/N: Here is the second chapter! Please Read, Enjoy & Review!**

"Okay, today is the day. I'm ready. I can do this. It's just a meeting. No biggie… besides the fact that this meeting could decide whether or not I have a job this year… . But then again, they've already accepted me so they can't fire me before I even start working, can they? I'll just have to show them that I am the ideal employee so there won't be any need to fire me…" Lily trailed off, the image in the mirror reflecting her troubled expression. She sighed, as did her reflection. She splashed some water onto her face and smiled. "I can do this."

"Lily!" Shay called from their shared room. "Lily! Are you done giving yourself a pep talk? Hurry up or we're going to be late!"

Lily came out of the washroom. A blush crept up to her face. "Sorry… I'm just nervous, I've never worked anywhere in the wizarding community and I really need this job."

Shay grabbed her books and motioned for Julia, who was reading while waiting for Lily, to do the same. She walked towards the door and said, "Lils, you'll do fine. For a girl who is so sure of herself when it comes to school, no one would ever figure that you'd ever be nervous of a restaurant."

"I'm not afraid of the restaurant, I'm worried about the job and―" she tried to defend herself but Shay was already out the door.

"She's right, you'll do fine," Julia said as she walked past her. "Now come on, McGonagall isn't known for being merciful when it comes to being late."

* * *

"… and since last week, we covered transfiguring― Miss Evans, Miss de Vlad, and Miss Rhodes, how nice of you three to join us. Take your seats please and open your books to page two forty-eight," Professor McGonagall said with a tone of disappointment. The woman was standing at the front of the class as usual, her greying brown hair in its usual tight bun. She adjusted her glasses and returned her attention to the rest of the class. "As I was saying, last week we practiced transfiguring small parts of your bodies such as changing your nails into claws. This week we are going to work with spells that transfigure larger portions of your bodies such as a limb and hopefully by the beginning of next week, we can begin full body transfigurations."

The class all took in an excited gasp. Everyone has been waiting since fifth year to learn how to transform each other into something different. This advanced level magic was strictly taught in only NEWT level transfiguration. The last week and a half have been used for learning the simple basics of human transfiguration and now, finally the class has begun to take another step to reaching their goals to being able to transform their entire bodies. For the next half hour, McGonagall went over the spell, the proper pronunciation, the precautions, the possible hazards, and finally gave them their assignment for the day.

"You will all take a partner and you will attempt to change their right arm into the fin of a fish. You have a half hour to show me your progress. Go."

In their seats, the three girls looked at each other, debating on who should be paired up with who. That was the only problem with having three people in their group. Hogwarts never had group projects, it was always in partners.

"Lily, you can go with Shay. It's okay," Julia said to Lily's anxious expression. Of all the subjects that Lily Evans excelled at, transfiguration was the one that she had to work at, study, and practice the most in order to keep her perfect average and high grades. Coincidently, this was one of the only classes that Julia was great at.

"But I don't want to leave you out…" Lily trailed off. At the same time, Julia morphed her right arm into the fin of a tiger shark to demonstrate how 'fine' she was about the situation. "Alright then… I'll go with Shay," she said in a defeated tone.

"Hey! I'm offended. You make it sound like you don't want to be with me!" Shay cried defensively.

McGonagall chose this moment to walk by the girls. "Miss Rhodes, wonderful job. However, next time I come over I'd like you to actually use the spell rather than taking advantage of your other natural born talents. As for the two of you, pair up and continue please." With that, she walked towards another pair whose arm became slightly transparent and as thin as paper.

Shay turned to Lily. "Okay then, I guess I'll try it first." She took out her wand: thirteen and a half inches, rosewood, and dragon heartstring. She pointed it at Lily's arm and concentrated. "_Gestalteo Piscis_."

Lily looked towards her right arm. It rapidly began to change shape; her fingers elongated and thinned. Thin fibres spread between her fingers like translucent webs and came together in the end to resemble a beautiful fan. Lily's arm was now an array of colours that ranged from bright aqua to a deep blue.

"Flying fish fin. Nice," Julia admired, brushing her fingers against Lily's elegant fin. "Okay now, Lily. It's your turn."

Shay changed Lily arm back to its original shape and pocketed her wand. She looked back at Lily's nervous face. "Just try it. I'm fine with you experimenting with my arm," she tried to reassure her friend.

A voice made the girls turn. "Wonderful, Mr. Potter. Ten points to Gryffindor." McGonagall's voice caught the attention of everyone in the room. James was grinning, his smile looking as if it was too large for his face. His tall figure was beaming with pride, his muscled chest puffed out. He was opening his arms out, presenting Sirius like he was a prize. Sirius, who was smiling smugly as well, was waving his right arm which had changed into a giant pectoral fin. It was blue with yellow wavy patterns across its surface: a mandarin fish fin.

James then looked at Lily. His look was challenging and confident. Lily glared at him and then turned away. She clutched her wand and stared at Shay's arm.

"_Gestalteo Piscis_," she said, her voice shaky. Shay shared a wary glance with Julia before her arm started to morph. But it didn't change completely. Her arm changed from perfectly tanned skin to a flat, wide, grey fin. However, Shay's hand was still visible, prodding from the top of the fin. She wiggled her fingers.

"Miss Evans, you definitely need more practice. Do it over until you get it right please. Perhaps you could ask Mr. Potter for assistance," Professor McGonagall said whilst changing Shay's arm back.

Lily looked away, slightly embarrassed by McGonagall's public announcement of her failure at perfection. She told herself that it was perfectly normal not to get the spell right on the first try. Rarely do people do it correctly the first time. But it wasn't the fact that she didn't get it right that irked her so much. It was James Potter. She was well aware of the fact that he was looking at her and completely aware of what his expression would look like. She knew that he was going to rub in the fact that she was inferior to him when it came to this particular class. But if he said one word―

"Evans, it seems lik―" He was promptly interrupted by Lily's wand pointing at his face. She was clearly unhappy and obviously didn't deal with public humiliation very well.

"Look, Potter. Just shut it. Don't say anything and I won't rearrange your face beyond recognition," she threatened.

He didn't seem to get the message as he smirked and crossed his toned arms over his chest, tucking his wand under his arm. "You can't even change her arm into a fin. I highly doubt you'd be able to change anything about me."

She snapped. Lily flicked her wand in the most subtle fashion and suddenly, James spouted dog ears that sat atop of his head. Soon, a bunch of different pairs of ears grew from his head: cat's ears, bear's ears, squirrel's ears, pixie's ears, niffler's ears, and even a pair of elephant's ears. They all squished onto his head making him look like a tree; instead of branches, he had ears.

James raised his hands to his head, his face changing into an expression of pure terror at what he felt. He heard a snicker from the seat next to him.

"I'm sorry mate, but I'd bet you'd laugh if you got a good look at yourself right now," Sirius defended himself.

"You―" he started angrily towards Lily. He was interrupted again by Professor McGonagall.

"Miss Evans, you know better than to misuse transfiguration in my classroom," the professor said with a disapproving tone. Then she looked at James and his interesting collection of ears. She turned to Lily again. "However, this is quite advanced transfiguration… consider this a warning. Don't let it happen again."

The moment she turned away, James glared at Lily, "Evans―" Again, his angry speech was cut off by a male's voice.

"James―whoa… err… Padfoot, I don't think that was what McGonagall assigned us," Remus said, assuming that Sirius was responsible. Remus looked around, his grey eyes landing on the glaring pair, Lily and James. He gave James a reassuring smile, "I'm sure we can fix that."

James's hand was balled up into a tense fist and then he opened then closed them in a repeated movement to try to calm his nerves. He closed his eyes and when he opened them, he portrayed a strained look of calmness. He raised his hand to run his hand through his hair out of habit when he stopped just short of touching one of his extra ears. He cringed.

"Isn't it time we got over our little feud? We are going to learn to have to get along this year anyways, we're going to be working together. I'm Head Boy and you're Head Girl. So what do you say? Truce?" James gave a smile and outstretched his hand. Lily gave him a wary look before raising her hand to meet his. "Besides, your attempts to humiliate me are just a cry for my attention rooted from your dark hidden obsession with yours truely. No harm done," he added smugly.

At this, Lily's hand collided with James's cheek. He stood there stunned.

"You are such an arrogant PIG!" Lily yelled. And with that, she grabbed her books and her bag and stormed out of the room. Professor McGonagall turned to scold the angry Lily.

"Miss Evans, class has not yet ended ―" She was cut off by the sound of the bell that signalled that class finished and the sound of the rushing students that flooded out of the room. Her class was empty by the time she could finish her sentence. She let out an exasperated sigh. "Thank Merlin."

* * *

Back in the Gryffindor girl's dorm, chaos ensued. Lily was in a frenzy to find what to wear for this evening's meeting at The Griffon. Clothes were littered across the floor and the beds. Lily constantly came in and out of the washroom to show her friends her outfit, ask for their opinion, promptly shoot them down, and then disappear into the washroom with another outfit to repeat the process all over again.

"Okay, what do you think about this one?" Lily came out with a white collared blouse and a straight knee length black skirt.

Shay turned to her, "You're going to work at a lounge, Lily. You aren't going to work at an office," Before Shay could continue, Lily disappeared again. She gave out a sigh and looked at Julia. Julia was lying on her bed. Her dark hair elegantly fanned out around her head and had her arms outstretched in front of her, playing with her kitten. It was a pure black cat whose striking blue eyes seemed to match its owner's. Julia put her kitten down next to her and began to stroke its back.

"When are you going to tell her that she'll probably need a uniform?" Julia said. "And that she probably doesn't need all this fuss about what she wants to wear?"

Just as Shay opened her mouth to respond, Lily popped out of the washroom and said, "I know that already. I just don't know what we're doing today so I want to make a good impression. I want to look dedicated and confident."

"And you want your clothes to say that for you?" Julia speculated. Lily glared at her. "All I'm saying is that you don't need special clothes to say that for you. You can probably convince anyone that you are dedicated and confident with jeans, a t-shirt, and your pre-exams face."

Lily turned around to face a full length mirror. She was wearing an elegant dress shirt and dark slim dress pants. "Thanks but I need the clothes. I need to make a good impression. I need this job," her voice fading towards the end of the sentence. Her confident expression dropped for a fraction of a moment. But the moment was gone as soon as it came. She turned around to face Julia. "Hey, aren't you lucky, you don't have to work. You get to stay in the castle and relax, finish your homework and sleep early. God, I wish I could do that. But noooo. Unlike you, we don't have galleons pouring out of our ears," she teased her blushing friend.

Julia swung her legs over the side of her bed, lifting her kitten onto her lap, "Actually… I'm being tutored almost every day. Apparently I am falling behind in some classes."

"Really?" the shock was evident in Shay's voice. She bounced off her bed to stand in front of Julia. "I thought you were doing fine… wait, who's tutoring you?"

Julia looked down, her hand nervously stroking her black kitten and mumbled what may have been a name under her breath.

Lily raised a brow. "What was that?"

"Remus Lupin…" she muttered again. She didn't raise her head but it was obvious that she was hiding the rising blush that crept up to her face. Lily and Shay shared a brief nervous glance before looking at Julia again.

"Julia, do you really think that's the best idea?" Shay said with a worried voice. "I mean…"

"I know, I know! I know what I'm doing, don't worry. I'm over him. This is purely for educational purposes. I promise," she said more to herself than to her two friends. Lily spared her another worried glance before looking at her watch. Surprised, she gasped and snatched up her bag.

"Okay, we're going to be late. I want to be early. We're going to go now. See you later!" By her last word, she was already gone.

"I still don't think being tutored by your ex is the best idea." But before she could continue, Lily appeared again and grabbed the vampire's arm.

"We're going to be LATE!" And before Julia could say another word they were already out the door.

* * *

"Okay then. Here we are." Lily took in a deep breath. She looked around the lounge, impressed by its elegance and simplistic beauty. It was a relatively large place with plenty of open space. It was mostly wood, the tables giving off a fine polish and shine. There were booths that lined the walls, their seats covered in a beautiful red and lined with gold, Gryffindor colours. There were booths in the centre of the room that were held up on a low platform and regular tables with chairs placed throughout the room. There were long tables for larger parties and smaller round ones for groups of less people. Along the left wall, three curtains covering certain doorways led to more secluded rooms, ones that would no doubt be frequently occupied by couples. At the front of the large room was a small platform with a microphone that staged the entertainment. To the right of the mini podium was a bar complete with every wine and liquor lined across the glass shelves behind it. Finally, to the far left was the cashier and on the opposite side, the swinging door that lead to the kitchen.

Lily walked in to greet the people who were already seated. She noted that many of them were wearing clothes that were much more casual than her own ensemble. Out of the people already present, there were a few that Lily recognized. There were a couple fellow Hogwarts students: two seventh year Hufflepuff boys and a sixth year Ravenclaw girl. Lily and Shay mingled with the other employees-to-be while wondering what was taking their manager so long.

Finally, the door that led to the kitchen swung open. A large man with a thick moustache pushed through the door. He was wearing a chef's toque, a maroon necktie, a pair of houndstooth trousers, and a white traditional double-breasted jacket. Lily rushed to the man and grabbed his hand to shake it.

"Hello, I'm Lily Evans. I promise to work very hard and I will make you, sir, very very proud. Thank you so much for allowing me to work here and it is such an honour to work for you," she ranted while vigorously pumping his hand up and down.

But the man tentatively pulled his hand free from her grasp and said, "I'm very flattered but I am the chef, not the manager."

She looked around perplexed and slightly embarrassed. "Then who is?"

The door swung open once more to reveal a tall, lean figure. He ran a large calloused hand through his already unruly dark hair. He looked at Lily with a pair of familiar hazel eyes and said, "I am."

**A/N: Thanks for reading and constructive criticism is warmly welcomed. Hope you stick around for the next chapter!**


	3. Act 1, Part III

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognize from the Harry Potter Books belong to J.K. Rowling. Everything else is mine!**

**Author's Note: Here's another chapter! Please Read, Enjoy & Review!**

"_Potter_," Lily hissed. Mentally, she was exploding. '_Why is he everywhere I go?_'

"That would be _Mr. Potter_ to you, Miss Evans. Here at The Griffon, we will address each other with respect," he deliberately reprimanded the flustering redhead. He looked at the group. "Hello everyone, good evening, and welcome to The Griffon. My name is James Potter and I am the Sous-chef and the manager. This," he waved for everyone's attention to shift to the man whom Lily thought was the manager, "is Chef Michaels. He is the Executive Chef of this lounge as well as the best chef on the planet," he finished with a proud smile. He pat the man on the back in a friendly gesture and the chef gave a smile.

"Okay then, let's get to the point," James continued, "My goal is for The Griffon to be the new 'The Three Broomsticks'. It is going to be as popular but as classy as a five star restaurant. It is elegant and sophisticated but simple and appealing to everyone of all ages. As you all should know when you applied to work at the Griffon, there are no house elves to help us cook and most importantly, there is no magic here. Everything from cooking to cleaning will be done by hand, muggle style.

"Here at the Griffon, we've created a system where upon entrance, wands are stored in drawers attached to the underside of every table, one for every seat. When our customers leave, they simply need to make a hand gesture of their preference, a clap or a snap of the fingers while calling for their wand. The drawers will automatically open and it will come to them as if they were using the 'accio' spell. Now you may ask 'why no magic?' Simple. It's for safety precautions and for a different dining experience. No one is allowed admittance without surrendering their wands at the doorway. A lot of witches and wizards are probably not willing to part with their wands at first but we'll reassure them that no one has their wands and that the Griffon is as safe as Hogwarts. Our wands will have cubbies of their own in the kitchen. For many of us it will be a change, a challenge, but as a team, we can definitely make this work.

"So tonight, we're just going to look around and get familiar to the place, each other, and what our roles are in this restaurant. You will also get your schedules tonight and hopefully, within a half hour, we will be set to go and tomorrow, we will come back here to set up for the opening night."

Everyone politely clapped at his speech and got off their seats to wander around and mingle. Some of them walked towards James, others around the room or into the kitchen. Lily was left standing there alone. Shay left her for the stage. Lily, shifting her bag uncomfortably on her shoulder, walked towards the bar where a man was looking at the different wine and beer bottles. She sat on one of the stools, her back to the counter. She let out a sigh.

"Long day?" a voice asked from behind her. The man put down the bottle of wine carefully back on its original rack. He was an Asian man; he had dark brown hair that stuck up with soft facial features. He was tall with broad shoulders and warm chocolate eyes that were bright with knowledge. He gave a comforting smile.

"I'm Kelvin. Kelvin Teoh." he held out a hand for her to shake. She took it gladly.

"Lily Evans. I go to Hogwarts. Seventh year," she said while returning his smile. He gave off an air of familiarity and comfort.

"Yeah, I've heard of you. Head Girl, right? I used to go to Hogwarts, graduated two years ago."

"So why are you working here? Why not at the ministry or something like that?" Lily asked out of curiosity.

"Actually, I am working to become an auror in a division that works closely with muggles and stuff. I find them fascinating, especially their gadgets and technology. Sometimes I think it's as good as magic! I'm here because a lot of the things that James has set up here is based on muggle inventions and I want to get used to being stationed in a muggle community. So being here is like having the best of both worlds. He's a good boy, James," he complimented his boss.

Lily's happy expression faltered for a moment while internally disagreeing with his comment. _'James is better described as an arrogant prick'. _

"James Potter is definitely _not_ a 'good boy'. In fact, he is far from a good boy," she outwardly ranted at Kelvin. "He's a prick. He's an arrogant, cocky, stuck-up, lazy, womanizing, disgusting little prat. For six years, all he's done is tormented me. James Potter is ―"

"James Potter is great? James Potter is wonderful? Handsome? A fine bloke? James Potter is what?" a voice interrupted them. Lily stiffened and turned around to face the very person she was speaking of. "What exactly am I, Miss Evans?" he repeated.

"Err…" she struggled to find something adequate to say to her boss.

"Lil― Miss Evans was just saying how you are the Head Boy at Hogwarts and since you're used to a position of leadership, being the manager will no doubt come easily to you. Oh! And that she expects you to be great." Kelvin gave Lily a wink when she saw her shocked but grateful face.

"Well in that case, carry on with your conversation. Hurry though, I need to speak to Miss Evans soon." James grinned at Lily and then left them alone. Lily turned around with a relieved sigh when he was out of hearing distance.

"Thank you so much. Usually, at Hogwarts I can just insult him at my leisure but here he has the power to fire me."

"No problem. I take it you two don't get along very well," Kelvin assumed, resting his arms on the counter.

She laughed. "Is my dislike for him that obvious?"

"Ah, but haven't you heard of the quote 'there is a fine line between love and hate'?" he teased her. She glared at him. "Hey, you'd better attend to our boss. It was a pleasure talking to you." He smiled as he waved her off.

She smiled at him once more before turning around to attend to James Potter who was standing smugly against the cashier counter next to kitchen door. She closed her eyes took a deep breath before walking towards him with a nice fake smile plastered on her face.

"_Mr. Potter._ What is it you want to talk to me about?" she asked in a polite tone.

"Well, _Miss Evans,_" clearly enjoying the need for formalities. "It seems that when you applied for a job here at The Griffon, you didn't specify what position you were looking for." Lily looked at him sceptically. He had a slight grin on his face, one that he usually reserved for when he was with the Marauders waiting for one of their pranks to unfold. She had a bad feeling about this.

James continued after an intended dramatic pause, "_So_, I took the liberty and the responsibility to give you a very important job that suits you perfectly." He turned around and waved for her to follow him through the swinging door into the kitchen and around the beautiful marble counters of the kitchen, white tiled floors, and brand new kitchen appliances. He led her to back of the room where there was a polished wooden door as large as one for a broom closet back at Hogwarts. "This is your stop. Everything you need for the next few months are in here."

She looked at him with a raise of a brow.

"Go ahead, open it," he prompted as if it were a present.

She reached out her hand towards the doorknob and turned. She half expected something to pop out of the door as one of James's usual Marauder pranks.

She opened the door.

Immediately, a bunch of supplies tumbled out of the jam packed room like land slide and collapsed on top of a startled Lily. In a futile attempt to catch them all, she lost her balance and landed flat on the tiled floor holding mops, brooms, buckets, sponges, sprays, and any other cleaning supply imaginable. A bucket of unknown green contents even spilled all over her. She groaned in pain and tried to blow away a stray wet strand of hair.

From above her, James smiled. "Congratulations! You are our new Custodian Technician, Sanitation Supervisor, Domestic Engineer, General Cleaner…"

* * *

"…_Janitor!_ I'm a _janitor_!" Lily screeched. Shay and Lily returned to Hogwarts and Julia had finished her tutoring session. Lily had stayed at the Griffon arguing with James about her new job for so long that Shay had to pull her out before Lily resorted to using physical force as a method of persuasion. Presently, she was pacing and vented out to the two other witches.

Julia made an attempt to calm her down. "What's being wrong with being a janitor? Every business needs one; they would fall apart without them."

"Yeah," Shay added. "It's good honest work. And your salary is pretty great too, if you ask me. You'll probably earn more than I will."

Lily let out a frustrated groan and flopped onto her bed. She jumped back up again, feeling her cold wet clothes chill her back. "I know, I know. I don't mind being a janitor. I just don't want to be _James's _janitor. He could have given me any job since I didn't specify. I get that. But he had to make me the cleaning lady. He said that the job suited me since I come from a muggle family and I should be used to cleaning muggle style even though _technically_ I'm fairly used to doing everything muggle style. He said that no one else is more fit for this job and that I should be great at it."

"Wait. wait. What's the difference between being a janitor for James and being a janitor for anyone else?" Julia inquired.

"Simple. It's Potter. James Potter. The one who tortures me with his stupid pranks and bombards me with his stupid snide comments. The stupid prick that changed my hair colour for his own amusement a few days ago. The stupid―"

"We get it. He's stupid." Shay grinned, slightly amused at her ranting.

"Then don't you get why I'm so angry?"

"Obviously not…"

"James is being put in a position of power over me. He can blackmail me with the idea of being fired and I'd be helpless and forced to oblige and do his bidding."

"Lily. He is mischievous, not evil." Shay rolled her eyes.

"When it comes to James Potter, there's a fine line between the two and he's obviously willing to cross it."

Defeated, Shay sat down next to Julia on her bed. Julia was lying on her stomach, her kitten curled up next to her. She rested her head on her arms and said, "Continue ranting."

"Basically, I'm doing his dirty work, literally. Merlin, I'm going to regret this, aren't I?" Lily let out an exasperated sigh.

Julia, already exhausted said, "You'll be fine. Besides, you could learn from a tough job experience. Anyways, with Shay there to protect you from the Big Bad James, you'll be fine." She turned to Shay. "Speaking of you, what exactly are you doing at The Griffon?"

Turning to her she said, "I'm the headliner. I'll be singing there during the evenings when you," she pointed at Lily, "have to work and you," she pointed at Julia, "have 'tutoring' with a very special Marauder," she teased.

Julia huffed and hid a blush and Shay couldn't help but laugh.

Lily interrupted the moment. "So tomorrow. What time do we have to be there?"

"Well I think he wants you to be there earlier than me. You know, to clean and check things before we open it to the public," Shay answered.

"But you have to be there like Julia said, to protect me!" Lily whined. Her response was Shay rolling her eyes.

"Aww, sorry Sugar," calling her the pet name she often used, "but the mutt is going to be there and I want to stay as far away from him as possible."

Julia raised her head from its former position on her arms. "I've always wondered, why do you call Sirius a 'mutt'. It's not like he's a dog."

Shay and Lily shared a worried glance before Shay started again, "Err…well… you know how much I hate him and how much he annoys me, right? Well calling anyone a mutt or a mongrel is an insult and you know how much I just love to insult him," she finished weakly. Julia didn't seem as satisfied, her eyebrows arching in confusion, but didn't push it. Shay ran a hand through her short light hair.

"Don't do that," Lily scolded.

"Don't do what?" Shay questioned.

"That! You look just like Potter when you do it. It's a Potter habit, a Potter trademark. Therefore it's irritating," Lily complained.

Shay blinked several times in confusion then grinned. "You know, when you're not in his presence, all you seem talk about is James."

Taken aback, Lily said, "I don't talk about Potter. I complain about him. There's an obvious difference."

"Sure but it still means that he's constantly on your mind," she pushed.

"That's because there's a lot to complain about," Lily said defensively. "What are you implying? I like him just about as much as you fancy Black."

"Mhm, sure…" Shay said in a tone of amused disbelief. "At least you strain yourself to be civil with him. Whenever I see Black I'm itching to attack him, verbally or otherwise."

Julia interrupted before Lily could retort. "Okay, _children_, quit arguing. Lily, if you didn't notice, Shady was just teasing. It's late and I am dead tired. So be good little girls and go to sleep. Now. " Julia pushed Shay off her bed and slipped under the covers without so much as a 'good night'.

Shay blew out her candle for her and walked to her own bed. On the other side of the room, Lily was grabbing her pyjamas and walked towards the washroom. Before she entered, she turned around. "Hey Shady?"

Shay lifted her head to face her. "Hmm?"

"I'm sorry for snapping. Potter just gets on my nerves and …well…you know," she apologized.

"I definitely know the feeling. It's fine, you were just edgy. I understand." She smiled at her. "G'night."

"Thanks. Good night." And with that she went to the washroom to shower and change. Within twenty minutes, she was out with her hair magically dried and her clothes magically cleaned and headed for her own four-poster bed. Getting comfortable beneath the covers, she lay there thinking about what Shay said. '_I think about him as a form of cathartic therapy. Potter is just a prick who loves to get on my nerves. To fancy Potter is as likely as Severus marrying the giant squid. Impossible. He's an arrogant lazy prick and a big-headed cocky prat.'_ She mentally reassured herself. She looked around her room again. Her roommates were the ones who questioned her feelings. They might not be sure of her loathing towards Potter but she was sure that fact was static. She was definitely sure, no questions asked. And as her final statement on the matter, she convinced the silence that surrounded her.

"James Potter is a jackass."

**Author's Note: It was a little shorter and less scenes but coming chapters will be more interesting! So please leave a review and stick around. Now onto the next chapter...**


	4. Act 1, Part IV

**Disclaimer: Anything that recognizable doesn't belong to me as I'm not J.K. Rowling.**

**A/N: Here's the next update! Again, Please Read, Enjoy & Review!**

"Thank Merlin, it's lunch!" Julia exclaimed. The three girls pushed through the crowd of people towards their self-designated seats. Julia, the most aggressive one, didn't bother for manners and shoved all the people out of her way like a plough through soil. Finally, they reached their seats and before Julia even sat down, she had two pieces of chicken already in her greedy little hands. Planting her rear on the wooden bench, she mercilessly bit into them.

Across the table from her, Shay and Lily looked at her with a mixture of shock and disgust.

"Err…hungry much?" Shay asked while piling some food onto her own plate.

Julia looked up, her mouth loaded with food. "Hmm?" She swallowed her mouth's contents before continuing again. "Oh. Sorry. Yeah. I skipped breakfast this morning since I was finishing the scroll that McGonagall asked for yesterday. And then today during transfiguration, we were going over something to do with transfiguring into chickens or something like that. _Then_ I was reminded of chicken for its succulent drumsticks rather than cute flightless fowl." She took another bite out of her drumstick.

Lily scrunched up her face at the sight of Julia devouring her food. Shay gave a light chuckle. "She's not the only one who looks like that when she's hungry. I'm sure I've been caught like that on more than one occasion, and so have you."

"Yes, but I gorge on my food in less public places where only people who don't care what I look like, a.k.a. you and Julia, witness the event." Lily started to fill her plate with food as well.

"Take a look," Shay said after a mouthful of food. She turned her head towards her left, motioning the girls to look further down the table. "Julia's not alone in her gorging fest."

Looking towards the intended direction, their gazes landed on three boys who were eating, two of whom were indeed _gorging _on their food like starving lions on their prey. James was stuffing his face with anything he could get his utensils in. Sirius lacked even the slightest dining etiquette and simply dug in with his hands. Remus, the only civilized one, completely ignored their barbaric fashion of eating.

Lily grimaced. "Yuck."

"Now that's gross," Shay commented.

"And you said _I_ was bad."

Lily still looking at the feeding Marauders she said, "And he wonders why I won't go out with him. Look at that. He's a pig! Both literally and figuratively." James caught her eye and gave what he probably meant to be a grin but with all that food in his mouth and sauce dripping down his chin, the suggestive message was lost in translation. She shuddered at his maniacal smile and looked away. She picked up her fork again to pierce the sausage in front of her and took a polite bite.

"Speaking of dating, what happened to that other guy? What was his name…Rob…Bob…Ben. Ben! That sounds about right. So is he still sending you stuff?" Julia paused from eating her food to hear Lily's response.

"Oh yes, him. Well, Ben's…different. I mean no one has ever shown so much interest in me before besides Potter but he doesn't count. Ben's like one of those secret admirers, but not so secret. It's just a temporary infatuation."

"Tell me about it. Remember last week?" Lily groaned as Shay continued. "When we came back into our dorms and we couldn't even see our floor or any of our walls because they were covered in Madonna lilies? They were everywhere! It took us forever to get rid of them. That boy must have spent over sixty galleons on those things." Lily snickered.

"That is so assuming of him. Honestly, just because my name is Lily that doesn't mean that I automatically love them. In fact, I not only hate them because they're the flowers of death but I'm allergic to them."

Shay let out a robust laugh. "Oh that was hilarious! One whiff and you were out of the dorm sneezing like there was no tomorrow. I think you went through half our stash of Kleenexes in less than an hour."

Lily tried to keep a straight face but a smile crept up regardless. "I don't see why people bother sending others flowers. Personally, I hate them."

Julia raised a brow questionably. "What? I thought you loved flowers. You shove your nose into them every time we go into the greenhouses."

"I do like flowers. I just don't like when people give them to me cut and wrapped. They're practically giving me something that is moribund."

Julia stroked her chin in thought. "That makes sense actually. But I'm sure that it's the thought that counts right?"

"Well then clearly he didn't put a whole thought into it. I mean really, what man doesn't do a little background research on the girl he fancies before sending her gifts that cost more than all the possessions in my trunk put together?" Shay pointed out.

"I'm sure that he just thought that it was a romantic gesture, however misguided he was. He was probably under the assumption that most girls would love receiving flowers. He just didn't know that the girl he fancied was the one exception."

"Hey," Shay said while looking up. "Speak of the devil. Ben sent you the gift of death again." Shay teased, referring to the flowers. True to her word however, a proud great horned owl was soaring towards the Gryffindor girls with a large bouquet in its talons. It swooped down to drop the package in front of Lily and left them with a beautiful arrangement of white lilies wrapped in pink paper and a yellow ribbon.

Lily sneezed at the sight of them. "Julia, get those out of my sight. Feed them to your cat or turn them into compost. I don't care. Just get them away from me." Lily's vision was starting to blur and her nose began to run.

Julia grabbed the bouquet before it even hit the table. Mentally admiring them, she felt something angular poking at her arm. Attached by a yellow ribbon were a medium sized wooden box and a simple small card. She held it out. "Lils, I think he's starting to learn. There's a part two to his gift."

Lily opened the card and read it out loud. "'My Dearest Lily, I warms my heart to see you every day from across the hall. I only wish that one day you would look at me with the same longing that I hold for you. You are like the air that I breathe' blah blah blah 'If only you would give me a chance, you would finally see that we were meant to be.' Merlin, that's pathetic," Lily said, looking up from the note to the faces of her amused friends.

"And desperate," Shay added. She pushed the box to Lily, eager to find out what it was. Lily took it and cautiously opened it. It was a small classic music box. From the inside, a dancing character twirled around while singing in a loud, deep, off-tune voice.

"_You are my sunshine,  
__My only sunshine,  
__You make me happy!  
__When skies are_―"

Lily shut the box before it could continue. Almost everyone's attention was now focussed her. She tried to ignore it while a crimson blush rose to her face but even her friends were snickering at her.

_"_I bet this guy doesn't know anything about you besides that you're Head Girl. Do you even know anything about him? Who IS Ben?" Julia said after her giggling fit.

"Sure I do," Lily said while trying to think. "Ben is that new kid. One of the exchange guys from Durmstrang. That's why Peter's not here. Peter's the one he exchanged with for a semester."

"Oh! I didn't even notice he was gone! But why Peter? I mean…it's _Peter,_" Shay said.

"Something to do with Peter's grandmother not liking how little progress he made last year. Don't know, don't care," Lily responded while going back to her food.

"So anyways, what are you going to do about this guy? He's borderline stalking you."

"I don't know. I just figured that if I ignored him for long enough, he'd go away and find another interest," Lily pondered.

Shay exploded into a robust laugh but quickly hid it in a cough when Lily raised her brows at her.

"What?" Lily asked.

"Oh, nothing. It's just that, haven't you learned by now? Ben isn't the first guy to stalk you. Let's see, there was and _is_ James," Shay started ticking off her perfectly manicured fingers as she counted. "You've tried to ignore him, tell him off, argue with him, even jinx him, and he's still here. Then there was Amos Diggory in fifth year. That didn't turn out so well considering the fact that you drove him to the point where he conspired against you with help from the Slytherins when you rejected him the one hundredth and ninety second time. And now there's Ben. I guess your choice of tactic is between the James version and the Diggory method. Would you rather have someone who is infatuated with you but makes your life a living hell or someone who just wants to make your life a living hell? Which one will it be?" Shay finished with her best show-host voice.

"Oh, shush. That's not true. Anyways, I'm going to stick to my plan for now and pretend that Ben will lose interest in a week or two when he finally catches on to the fact that I don't fancy him." Lily stood up and dabbed her lips with the cloth, "Well then ladies, I'm done. I'll meet you in class later and then after that, the torture begins." She flipped her scarlet hair over her shoulder and left her friends snickering with a dramatic exit.

Lily made her way through the row between the house tables. All the while, the possible outcomes of tonight ran through her head. It was the opening night of The Griffon and after her next class, she was required to go early to open up the restaurant with James. That's when she predicted the disaster to begin.

She let her eyes wander around the great hall. People were animatedly chatting and finishing their meals. Her eyes scanned the room until they meet a pair of smouldering brown eyes that glared back at her. Amos Diggory looked at her with such loathing it's hard to believe that he used to devote all his time to wooing her. She rolled her eyes at his immaturity and looked away. As she kept walking, her eyes rested on a certain hopeful individual. He was a lean young man, his movement frozen at the sight of her. He had short blond hair and bright brown eyes that lit up as he gave Lily a smile. Benjamin Parchment.

She returned it with a timid wave of her hand. Turning around, she continued her way out of the great hall. Lastly, her eyes met a pair of hazel orbs. James Potter was still stuffing his face with whatever his hands could reach on the table. Unlike Ben, James didn't have the courtesy of stopping his impolite and grotesque actions when he met her eyes and instead waved at her with a half-eaten drumstick in his hands.

"Hi Evans!" He tried to shout while bits and pieces of chicken sprayed out of his mouth. It wasn't pretty.

Averting her eyes, she shook her head. Soon she was met by the tall archway that was the exit of the Great Hall. Lily allowed her eyes to scan over the three boys she just looked at and thought, _'I hate it when they're right'_.

**A/N: I'm sorry this took so long! I've been suffering from writer's block. I don't have enough time to write anymore but I didn't want to leave the story until winter break. I promise next chapter will have the opening night. Kinda overloaded with work right now. Thanks for reading, please leave a review. Anything is welcome, especially constructive criticism. **


	5. Act 1, Part V

**Disclaimer: Anything that you recognize unfortunately does not belong to me.**

**Author's Note: Wow, it's been a long while. But here is the chapter that I promised…last summer. I apologize for the wait so I made this one a little longer and as always, constructive criticism is welcomed. Read, Enjoy, and Review.**

Lily Evans is a confident woman. At least that's what she repeatedly told herself while she walked down the corridor. She patted down her skirt and straightened out her shirt, making sure she looked decent. She knew that once she arrived at The Griffon, the staff would receive their uniforms so she found little reason to change out of her school robes.

She had left Shay since she was needed at the place earlier than her friend to open up the restaurant, make sure that everything was in place and prepared for the grand opening. Her heels clicked against the cold cement under her feet, nervously making her way to the exit of the castle. Dumbledore had made special arrangements for the employees and employer of The Griffon to be transported safely from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade. Behind the newest tapestry that pictured a hippogriff and small cat that had an uncanny resemblance to Professor McGonagall was the passageway to the second floor of Potter's new establishment. Inspired by the route from London to Diagon Alley, one must tap on a pattern of bricks behind the tapestry to be granted passage to a series of halls and stairs that led to The Griffon.

Lily rounded the corner to be met with a snickering messy-haired boy who slung an arm around his friend's shoulder. They were so intent on staring down the hall to notice her presence.

Lily coughed.

James waved for her to keep her voice down without turning around. Annoyed, Lily raised a brow and tapped his shoulder, "What, may I ask, are you two doing?"

Sirius, too caught up in the moment to notice to whom he was responding, answered, "We're observing our experiment. We bought this stuff from Zonko's with some spare change and in a couple minutes, we'll know what it does."

Lily decided to play along. "So who's your test subject?"

"Professor McGonagall."

"Brilliant choice," she smiled, a mischievous glint in her eyes, "Too bad. Unfortunately, the Head Boy you're with has a duty to report such poor behaviour to your test subject." The boys turned around, their grins dropping at the sight of her, finally realizing who they just revealed their plans to.

"Shit," Sirius swears under his breath. He looks at her with an innocent face, "Lily, darling, is there any chance you didn't hear any of that?" He wiggled his fingers as if hypnotizing her, "Your ears temporarily lost function and whatever you heard was all in your mind…"

Her smile widened, "No chance in hell Black, and if your friend here doesn't do anything, I'll report not only you but our resident Head Boy as well. I don't think that Dumbledore wants to regret his decision any more than he already does. Potter as Head Boy. Dumbledore may be a great wizard but surely, he's nutters."

James stood up, "Okay, alright, you've proved your point. Just promise not to say anything," he held his calloused hands up in surrender. She nodded. Looking at Sirius, he said, "Padfoot, prank's off. Go get the thing. We'll use it on someone else. Me and Evans will make our way to work."

Lily scowled at him, "First of all, you won't be using it one anyone else, whatever it is. Second of all it's 'Evans and _I'._"

He pretended not to hear her and was already walking away towards the next corridor. She hurried to catch up with him. The pair walked in silence for a few minutes, passing hallways, classrooms, stairs, and broom closets. Finally, they reached the tapestry. The hippogriff was staring menacingly at the two while the cat licked her paws. James moved it aside and with his wand, tapped the bricks; up, down, left, double tap, and a half-circle clockwise. Just like in London, the bricks unfolded to reveal an archway. James walked first, knowing his way and Lily followed, making a mental map of which hallways to avoid and which staircase to take. After a few minutes she stopped.

He turned to look at her, "What?"

"You broke the rules, Potter. You know that you're Head Boy now; you shouldn't be doing this stuff anymore. You're supposed to be proving that Dumbledore made a good decision."

He rolled his eyes at her, "Yeah, we've been through this about, oh I don't know, approximately one hundred and fifty-three times now?"

"Well apparently another hundred times isn't going to work then, is it?" Lily let an evil smirk grow on her pretty face, "You've gotten away with quite a few things so far just because you're Head Boy. Dumbledore thinks pretty highly of you right now. But if I were to tell him every prank you've pulled for the last month and a half, he won't be so happy and detention is not what you want while you have a lounge AND a quidditch team to run."

James's eyes narrowed, "You wouldn't."

"Oh, I'm rather certain I won't have to," her smile grew bigger. She walked closer to him so he could feel her breath on his face, "You have the power to give me something that I want and you will give it to me because you don't have a choice."

"That's blackmail." His face remained stony, his body ridged. "What do you want?"

"Even though I didn't specify what job I wanted, you _know_ that a janitor position is not what I wanted to do,"

"It's what was available and most wizards aren't used to cleaning the muggle way," James crossed his arms in defence.

"That's bollocks. Anyone who has spent time in detention would have had to clean something with their bare hands," before he could retort, she cut him off, "I want you to let me take up a waitressing position. Just for tonight. I've been a waitress before at other muggle places and I must say I'm rather good at it. Just let me do it tonight and you can judge me on that."

They stood there for minutes. James looked at her and she stared right back at him. They were sizing each other up, seeing who would back down first as if that would decide whether or not he would accept her proposition. Lily even made an effort not to blink like it would reveal a crack in her strong façade. She mentally debated if she should remind him of the detentions he had looming over his head.

After long moment, James let his hands drop to his sides and his posture relaxed. Lily remained in a taut stance. He sighed, "Fine, but just this one night and you still have to clean up afterwards 'cause you're still the custodian. This is only to avoid detention."

She relaxed and smiled, "Great. But wait, if I do well, I want you to consider letting me keep the job as a waitress."

His brows furrowed together and lifted his finger accusingly, "Hey, that wasn't part of the dea–"

"Detention…" her voice had a musical note in it as she mocked him and wagged her finger in front of his face, "Anyways, it's _if_ I do well. I'm not expecting you to hire a bad waitress. I'll prove my worth."

"Fine, fine, we'll see. However, this is the last time work and school are ever connected. There is no blackmailing, bribing, or anything else to get what you want using school for work or vice versa. The two are never related or used for one another, understood?" He didn't like being coerced into doing anything, "Let's go now, you held us up for almost twenty minutes already."

Lily just nodded, satisfied with his reply and trotted after him. She was pleased for the moment.

Lily fumbled for the keys while James tapped his foot impatiently. Finally, her fingers grazed the surface of cold metal and pulled out the keys. James had set two locks on the back door and made sure that they couldn't be opened by a charm. Muggle style with a bit of magic security.

Lily heard the click, turned the knob, and pushed open the door. She was met with a large room with a few chairs, a table, and two doors that lead to other rooms. James walked ahead of her, putting down his stuff and walking to the back room that was his official little office. Lily put away her wand at the back of the room, near James' office where all the drawers were. While she waited, she walked around the room, her hands brushing the wood table, and the old leather sofa. She reached the other door. Before she could venture in, James walked out of his office, uniform on and a nametag that said 'James Potter, Manager'.

"Hey, do I get one too?" Lily asked.

James looked up from fixing his tie and answered, "Obviously, everyone does."

Lily ignored the arrogance in his voice and held her hand out, asking for said tag. James walked back into his office and brought out a nicely folded shirt and a small metal tag. It read 'Lily Evans, Custodian'.

"You're still the janitor; I can't just change it for tonight so some people will be served by the janitor for today. Hide it if you don't want people to know," he explained before she could complain. She took the shirt and tag from him and he waved her to the locker room through the other door that he supplied for the workers to keep their stuff. The room also had a spacious washroom that the employees could change in.

A while later Lily came out wearing an open collared maroon blouse and a borrowed pair of black dress pants. James was setting the chairs, making sure that everything was perfect when the first flood of people came in. People had booked the place full tonight, obviously excited about the new place in town. Other workers had arrived including Kelvin who was cleaning a glass, Shay who waved to her happily, Sirius who was pinning on his nametag that read 'Sirius Black, host', and Chef Michaels who was tying his apron and adjusting his hat.

Everyone was moving quickly. As all the other workers came, the decorations were put up and the tables were set according to certain reservations. All the liquor was shelved, a combination of muggle alcohol and ones found in the wizarding world. Within the next fifteen minutes, the place was set. There were people who had started lining up outside the door, chatting loudly. Inside, the lounge was warm with a fire roaring in the hearth. All the place settings were when they were supposed to be. Kelvin was wiping the counter and all of the other workers were up at the front, ready to open the doors.

James grinned, "It's Showtime."

* * *

The Griffon was in full swing. People were loud and boisterous. There were children, parents, adults, and elders, people of all ages, shape and sizes. On the opening day, there were no students so the crew didn't have to handle to stress of teenagers on the first day. However, even without the voices and bodies of the Hogwarts students, things were still pretty hectic. The waitresses and waiters were in constant demand. Kelvin always had a glass in his hands and was even talking to various inebriated customers with his 'shrink' voice.

James was overloaded with work. As not only the manager but also the assistant cook, he had his hands full. There wasn't a moment when he could sit down. He made sure to talk to his customers and helped Chef Michaels with the meals. However, he made sure that he was still paying attention to Lily's failure at waitressing.

Lily had a waitress job before. She's worked at a breakfast place in a quieter neighbourhood. So she wondered how this job would be any different. Maybe it would be a little more challenging with more customers. About five minutes after she started, she discovered that it was _a lot_ more challenging. Instead on balancing two trays on her arm, she had to handle up to four. She also discovered that if she wanted to avoid the four-on-one arm combo, she could carry a tray that rested on her hand and shoulder and could weigh up to forty pounds. She had to balance the tray while serving the food which got dangerous when she couldn't handle the tipping of the tray when she unloaded the food one meal at a time. James had made her learn the hard way that if she spilled the food, the cost came out of her own salary.

By now, four hours after she started, there was only one hour left to go. Tonight was shorter than most other nights on account of the fact that it was a school night and the first. It was the night that James would judge how much food were to be prepared and bought for each night and how much people were willing to pay for each selection on his menu. Lily's already decided to take a maximum of three things one her tray at a time and take multiple trips. She's had children step on her shoes, parents arguing over their checks, many people who have had too many to drink, and even one young man who, in his laughter, sprayed his drink on Lily through his nostrils.

She was giving the bill to a family of five when one of the kids started crying. They had finished their meals and were finishing dessert. Lily, being the nice Head Girl she was, attempted to make the little girl feel better.

"Hey, don't cry now. Here, there's a little treat for you that comes with the bill."

The girl kept crying and it was getting louder. People began to stare and it caught James's attention. Lily looked at him for help but he just leered at her, silently telling her to make the kid happy and quick.

"Sweetie, how about I give you a chocolate frog for you to collect the cards or a pack of ice mice?"

But the girl kept crying. Lily went through the longest list of sweets that could pop into her mind. She was running out of things to say and despite her kind and patient demeanour, she was growing increasingly irritated with this little girl who refused to speak and tell her what was wrong. However, it wasn't like at Hogwarts where if she didn't want to be kind, she would threaten to give out detentions to make people behave. She looked towards one of the other waitresses, Alison Golding, a seventh year Hufflepuff, and she received a sympathetic smile. Lily was beginning to worry. She had three other tables to attend to and one man was already waving her over. She decided she had to deal with this quickly first.

She turned to face the family again and was met with a spoonful of vanilla ice cream. She stood there for a second, astonished. The crying stopped and the little girl erupted into peals of laughter. Lily took a napkin that was held in a pocket of her apron to wipe off her face. Fortunately, before she could say something to the son who successfully made his younger sister quite down, the mother began to speak.

"Excuse me Miss, this doesn't look right," Lily tried not to give and exasperated sigh and roll her eyes, again, "I told you that this one dish wasn't up to my expectations. I think you should take it off the bill."

Lily looked at the mother, a woman in her late thirties to early forties. She looked at Lily with the eyes of a barterer, "I'm sorry Ma'am. But if you said that it didn't taste right before you ate all of it, we would be able to take it off the bill." Lily's voice was slightly strained.

"Well that's not fair. I'm here for a good quality meal. This one here was not a good quality meal. I shouldn't have to pay for it," the mother pouted and pointed at the bill.

"Well Ma'am, how about you speak to my manager about it but our policy is that we cannot take it off the bill if it was eaten rather than asked to have it taken away," Lily walked away, taking a deep breath before calling James to come over. He put down his stuff and glared at Lily, disappointed. When he walked over to the family, he was all smiles.

"Good evening, young lady. What seems to be the problem?"

The mother blushed, "Oh, what a charmer," she gushed but pulled out the bill anyways. She pointed, "This one dish here, it didn't taste the way I expected it to."

James looked considerately at it, "Well Ma'am, it is a particularly special dish because it is prepared the muggle way, using electrically powered machines. It may be different but I assure you that people with the highest taste find this a favourite. And I'm sure it was made to perfection because I remembered I personally prepared it for you," he said with a charming smile and a wink. The mother looked embarrassed, "But, if you'd like, I'll make sure it's taken off this bill."

The mother stuttered but finally managed to say, "N–no, it's alright. That's okay, I'm sure it simply tasted different, exotic even. The next time I try it, I'll be more open minded." She pulled a few coins from her bag and put them on the table, making sure to leave a large tip no doubt intended for James and not Lily. She ushered her family out of the booth and out the door. James smiled and took the bill back to the cashier. Lily watched him leave, mentally screaming at him, '_why does he have to do that? I pointed out the exact same points and he's the one who gets the tip_.' He left her to clear and clean the table for the next customer.

Fifteen minutes until closing. Lily was counting down the seconds. She was grateful of the experience but she was covered in a film of sweat, her clothes were dirty, and she was exhausted. There were only a few people remaining. They were either finishing up, paying the bills, or at the bar. She was collecting the finished plates, bowls, glasses, and cups from the tables and bringing them back into the kitchen. Since there was only a little time left and James was in his office upstairs, Lily decided to spend the rest of her time, before James told her to get back to cleaning, talking to Kelvin.

"Hey, how was your evening?" she asked with a tired smile.

"I'm doing alright. My legs are aching from not being able to sit and barely being able to walk and my face hurts from smiling and talking so much. Who would have known that mixing our liquor and muggle alcohol would make it even easier to get drunk," He said while pouring a rather wasted middle-aged gentleman another drink.

Lily grinned, "I'm so tired. I've worked a lot before, bouncing between multiple jobs but this take first place. Right when Potter announces that we're done, I'm bolting out of here and collapsing into bed."

Kelvin gave a rich laugh and was about to reply when the man next to Lily motioned for another drink. Based on his clothes, this man was from the Ministry of Magic. His movements were lazy and miscalculated.

"Sir, I think you've already had one too many drinks don't you think?" Lily asked politely.

"Yeah, she's right Mr. Witherwood. How much have you had already? Four glasses and five shots I believe. I understand you've had a rough day of work but this is enough."

"Gimme anod–anoddur shot," Mr. Witherwood slurred. He gripped onto Lily's sleeve as if it would help make his plea heard. Lily and Kelvin looked at one another.

Kelvin finally said, "I'm sorry sir but that was the last glass we could give you. Look at the clock, it's almost time to go so it's probably time you make your way home anyways."

The older man glared at Lily as if it were her fault he had been refused a favourite treat. She stared back at him, willing him to let go of her sleeve. But he didn't let go and kept looking at her with the intense stare of a drunken man. He grumbled and pulled out a few coins and slammed them on the countertop, his eyes never leaving Lily's.

Kelvin looked nervously between Lily and the man, wondering what would happen and ready to pull the man off just in case he tried anything. The man stood up, his grip tightening. Lily winced and Kelvin loomed over the counter, his hand resting on the man's shoulder as both a warning and reassurance. Mr. Witherwood took a wavering step forward and leaned into Lily, his weight falling onto her. She was barely able to prop him back up again even with Kelvin's help pulling him by the back of his shirt.

Able to see his face again, she quickly said, "Sir, that was inappropriate and you should go–"

She was cut off by the loud but definite sound of Mr. Witherwood emptying his stomach's contents onto the front of Lily's shirt, some of it landing in her blouse, her pants, and shoes. She was stunned frozen. Kelvin stood there shocked.

Mr. Witherwood wiped his mouth with his sleeve and growled, "If you just gave me another drink, this wouldn't have happened." He mumbled something else under his breath, grabbed his coat and made his way out the front doors leaving the pair gobsmacked.

The sound of the door closing brought Kelvin out of his surprise and started to say, "Bloody. Hell. Lily, err, a towel! I have a towel. Do you need a towel? Let me get a towel," Kelvin took a towel from under the sink, soaked it with water and handed it to Lily, "Here. You can clean yourself off and err, I brought an extra shirt so you can use that to go back to school. I'm so sorry about this. It's time to go anyways, you can go to the restroom and wash it all off."

Lily snapped out of it, "Oh, thanks. Don't worry about it; it's obviously not your fault. I knew that there would be incidents when I decided to work here, it's no big deal," she tried to smile while wiping herself off.

It was time to go and everyone had gone upstairs. James already said good job and bye to everyone by the time Lily made her way up. James was talking to Shay when she came up.

"Oh. My. God. What happened?" Shay said shocked while shielding her sensitive nose from the intense stench of vomit.

"Nothing she can't handle," James cut in, "Good job tonight Miss de Vlad."

Lily glared at James. Shay made to move towards her but James intervened, "We have quidditch practice tomorrow Shay, I need you to rest up–"

"I don't need to rest–"

"–or whatever you usually do at night so you're ready for tomorrow. Miss Evans here has some more to do."

"Are you serious?" Lily almost yelled.

"Clean yourself off, then clean the dishes, tables and the floor, kitchen and carpet," James commanded while steering Shay, not allowing her to protest, out the door that lead back to Hogwarts. Lily was glaring at him as if it would burn holes in his head, "There's a map put up on the wall that you'll have to memorize if you want to get back to school by morning. Good night Miss Evans."

James turned around, practically pushing Shay through the doorway. He closed the door and cut off Lily's piercing cry of frustration.

**Author's Note: Thank you for reading and I promise to write the next chapter as soon as I can. I'm getting back into the routine of reading and writing so the next chapter won't have as long as a wait. If you spotted any typos or got anything to say, leave a review! Thanks.**


	6. Act 2, Part I

**Disclaimer: Everything recognizable is J.K. Rowling's genius creation. Everything else are my own ideas.**

**Author's Note: Just wanted to put another chapter up before school started. As always, constructive criticism is warmly welcome. Please Read, Enjoy & Review!**

Cleaning your own room is tedious enough. You find replacing things to their original positions time consuming. And putting away clothes that you know will be taken out again soon anyways is pointless. There's is the mass of things that are beneath your bed from days of feigning tidiness. Papers that are littered across the room have to be tidied, stacked, and organized. Everything has to be organized in such a way so people can actually see the surface of your floor. But the upside is that it is your own stuff. Where things go, when you clean, and how you choose to do so is completely up to you. And being in a wizarding school, there is one thing that makes the task that much easier:

Magic.

With a wave of a wand, her clothes would fold themselves and float neatly into her drawers. Her blouses would fly onto a hanger and into her closet. The creases of her shirts, skirts, socks, or pants would disappear and flatten out with a twist of her wrist. Her papers would fit tidily on top of each other in a neat stack. She was grateful for that moment when all her work paid off and she could look at her bedding area of the dorm and smile at how clean it is. Plus, hours of cleaning were reduced to mere minutes. She was exceedingly appreciative now that she was working in a place where the usage of her wand was prohibited.

Lily Evans has spent a grand total of three days as James's janitor and to sum it up, it was torture. It was like detention every day for hours on end with no one to talk to (during the time she was working) and watching the skin on her hands grow old and prune-like in dirty dish water. The only thing that gets her through it is that she needs the job and she's getting paid. This job may be the toughest one she's had so far, and that was saying something because she has had _a lot_ of jobs.

There was another janitor that was hired and, to Lily's understanding, he worked when she didn't. Everyone had shifts and there were only a few people who were there full time such as Kelvin, Chef Michaels, and others who were out of school. Lily felt like she was worked like a pack mule and according to what Kelvin has accidentally slipped out, the other custodian was treated _much_ kinder.

Lily decided to stop thinking about work. As James said before the opening night, school and work don't interfere with one another and they don't overlap in any way at all. Lily shook her head to clear her mind of the thoughts of brooms, sponges, Hoovers, 'Magic Erasers', 'Swiffer Wet Jets', and other commercial muggle cleaning instruments that she has become so familiar with.

The breeze of the October air chilled her to the bone. Lily gave a shiver. She pulled her cloak tighter around her and envied her friends. Julia was able to make herself warmer somehow with her natural-born talent of changing anything and everything about her physical self beyond Lily's understanding. And Shay, well Shay just didn't feel it at all.

"Are you cold Lils?" Shay looked sympathetically at her. She would have shrugged off her cloak to give to her friend if not for the fact that she didn't bring one.

"You noticed?" Lily said through chattering teeth. The three of them decided to spend as much time as possible in the beautiful weather before the wetness and snow of winter came upon them. There were clear skies and the sun was shining brightly. However, the heat of the sun seemed no match for the chill of the breeze.

Julia sat up from her position of lying down and pretending to tan. "We might as well go in then, we've got dinner in ten." She said the last part with a gleaming smile.

The three girls took what little they brought with them and walked off the grounds back to the castle. Lily was rubbing her arms up and down to try to warm herself up. Shay was laughing at Julia as she tried to pull stray grass from her friend's hair when they heard the familiar sound of obnoxious and robust laughter. They stopped and Julia ran her hands through her hair repeatedly in a desperate attempt to rid herself of the entangled grass. The trio watch the three boys round the corner that led to the Great Hall and stop before them.

"Oh look what we have here! We are graced by the presence of the 'chosen ones'," Sirius said in an overly dramatic voice. He gave a deep mock bow.

Shay smirks. "Hey ladies, our afternoons were just ruined by the presence of the '_challenged_ ones'!" Sirius returned a glare.

For a long moment of silence, the two groups stared at one another.

James smiled smugly at Lily, flashing his pearly whites and gave a charming wink. To that, Lily broke her glare long enough to roll her emerald eyes. Lily huffed and crossed her arms. Even though there were several feet apart, James seemed to be able to smother her with a look. She returned it with a malicious stare.

While James and Lily had a complicated relationship while Sirius and Shay had a very simple one; one of pure loathing. Sirius was torn between giving Shay an arrogant smirk or a piercing glare while Shay settled with a feral growl that rumbled in the base of her chest and echoed softly off the walls. Shay was practically jumping out of her skin to get a chance to get a piece of him. Sirius had his hand gripping tightly where his wand was in his pocket. The tension was so thick between them; you could cut through like a hot knife through butter.

The two pairs stood there like a silent minefield just waiting to explode with the right trigger. Julia and Remus stood off to the side and looked at one another. With their complicated past and nonexistent resentment or anger, they were the odd ones out during the staring match.

"Hey." Julia gave a shy wave, making sure she was quiet as to not aggravate her friends. Remus returned the wave with a curt nod and a warm smile. She put her hand on her neck, nervous and a little lightheaded.

During their little exchange, the other four paid little to no attention to them.

"Evans." James grinned.

"Potter," Lily returned with narrowed eyes.

"Mutt," Shay spit through her teeth at Sirius after giving James a quick smile.

"Fang," Sirius answered. Despite her love to terrify others, he was well aware of how sensitive she was about her vampire nature. But he knew his boundaries. He wouldn't go as far as calling her a leech or a bloodsucker.

Remus and Julia stood off to the side and watched the drama unfold. They didn't move closer to each other regardless of their neutrality. But at the same time, they didn't want to betray their friends.

"So…Evans—"

Lily cut him off. "No, I have no interest in you or any other offer from you that involves dinner, a broom closet, or a bed."

"Oh Lily dearest, you don't have to be so cruel. One evening with me and I could colour your world." James's grin grew wide and his eyebrows wiggled suggestively. Lily made a gagging motion.

"Only in your dreams, sweetheart, where pigs fly and you're _not _a prick."

James's face was glowing. "Wow Lils, you've got a pet name for me already!" He walked up to her and grasped her hands. "That's adorable. For you, how about 'my foxy minx' or 'my pretty flower' or 'my sexy love'? "

Lily's face cringed at each suggestion. "I think you are confused, you moron, because I said that in reference to how pathetic you are and not as a term of endearment." She ripped her hand out of his.

James was about to continue but his ears caught another less civil conversation.

"Shut it, you stupid mongrel! That's none of your bloody business. I don't have to explain myself to anyone, especially not a pathetic prick like you." Shay never got so riled up about anything. The one and only exception was when it involved Sirius Black. He was her kryptonite. But rather than weakening her to her knees, he would strip her of her usual calm and casual resolve.

"Really? 'Cause my very reliable resources tell me that you've been caught horizontal with a handful of greasy blokes." Sirius crossed his arms across his puffed out chest smugly. He held his wand in his hand just in case.

"You're keeping tabs on me. Stalking me now, are you Black?" Her eyebrows furrowed closer together, irritation in every crease. "Your resources aren't very accurate since you're just making shit up and you had better back off."

"Or else what?" Sirius held himself confidently.

"I don't think you fancy finding out." She smirked.

Sirius' grip tightened on his wand and stood up straighter. He narrowed his eyes. "I'm not afraid of you."

"Oh? Because based on how you're clutching your wand like a lifeline, the speed at which your heart is racing, and the sweat drop down your face, I know for a fact that you're terrified," Shay goaded.

James and Lily were watching fixedly, their own conversation temporarily forgotten. James's stance stiffened when Sirius whipped out his wand. Lily's hands nervously balled into fists. The two groups got into fights, arguments, and the occasional prank war but there has never been any life-threatening damage done.

Sirius glared at Shay and he sneered, "Bite me."

"Gladly." It was barely audible but Sirius regretted it the moment he heard it. In a flash, Shay was no longer in her place in front of him. He barely felt her behind him. Her hands were on his shoulders with the pressure of a feather but he knew it would be futile to move if he tried. The length of her body was moulded against his, which would usually find pleasantly sensual and intimate but with her, it was cold and perilous. He didn't have to look at her face to know the deadly look of her eyes; the whites of her eyes inked black and her canines inhumanly long. She let out a slow breath. It felt like a drip of ice cold water running down his neck. He stiffened.

Encouraged by his fearful look, she parted her lips and teasingly licked his throat. "You afraid of me now?" she whispered.

He snapped. "Get off me!" He made a swing at her, not aiming to hit her but put some distance between them. She danced out of his reach and stood back in front of him. James let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and ran his hand through his hair in relief.

Shay was grinning with the knowledge of victory. Sirius's breathing was fast and shallow, and his hand was tight around his wand. He shoved it back into his pocket but his hand was still around the wood.

He smirked, his heart still racing. "I always knew you wanted to me. Am I just too sexy to keep your hands off?" he pathetically added, trying to save some dignity. While normally Shay would have reacted aggressively at the jibe, this time she stood there proudly smiling because although she hasn't yet won the war, she definitely won this battle.

* * *

"Bloody hell! What is that woman's problem?" Sirius almost shouted. The three of them were sitting in the Great Hall and enjoying dinner. As per usual, the mahogany tables were covered in an unlimited amount of scrumptious dishes. There was everything from roasted turkey to yemista to spring rolls to even syrup covered pancakes for those who enjoy breakfast for dinner. Sirius already had two plates and was now working on his third. Food was spraying everywhere while he ranted angrily. "Like, really. Was that necessary? I can't even fake how I react to her because she could literally smell it on me."

"Well I don't have to smell it on you, I could just see by the way you were trembling," James snickered. Sirius's mouth was too full to retort so he settled for a glare. "What? Why don't you like her though? What has she done to you because I really don't like watching the two of you get angry at the sight of each other. It's like watching my favourite cat and dog constantly at each other's throats," James said trying to make light of the conversation.

Sirius swallowed. "She's a bitch to me. What am I supposed to do? If she chooses to poke at me, I'll bite."

"How ironic…" Remus muttered.

James rolled his eyes. "You could be mature and just take it. You could make an effort to be pleasant."

"I'm not you, Prongs. You can take Evans walking all over you just because you fancy the knickers off her." Sirius stated the obvious.

"Hey, that is so not true!"

"Oh yes it is!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Ya-huh!"

"Nuh—" James was cut off by Remus's loud cough. The two stopped their immature argument and stared at him as if to say 'what do you want?'

Remus calmly folded his napkin and placed it neatly on the table. "It would be futile for me to suggest for the two of you to grow up a little, wouldn't it. If you want my advice—"

"We don't," they said in unison.

"— both of you could learn to be a bit nicer to the girls. Prongs, you're never going to get Lily if you keep acting like a moron and Sirius, you push Shay too far and you'll be dead. And we won't help you," he said very matter-of-factly.

Sirius's jaw dropped dramatically. "You wound me." He frowned.

Remus stood. "It's time for my tutoring session with Julia now. I'll see you in a bit."

"Oh, Julia Rhodes! The one who got away! How great is it that you get to spend almost every evening with her! You'd better be studying," Sirius wagged his fingers reprimanding, "but if you're not, don't do anything I would."

"Shut up," Remus muttered, giving him a look. Sirius grinned back at Remus and waved him to leave as he walked out the hall. He looked towards the three girls that sat further down the table and watched Julia get up to go. She laughed and waved to her friends. She looked up and caught his eye. He gazed at her, blank faced and nervous that he was caught staring. She smiled. He felt the warmth heat up his face.

He smiled back.

**Author's Note: Short, I know but it seemed like an appropriate moment to end the chapter. This chapter was kind of a filler, laying down some hints here and there (if you caught them) that are important in the story.  
And again, this story is a little AU. What a vampire is and how they are is not based on any one story, I based it on a number of different myths. With the metamorphmagus, I've altered some of the characteristics from what was said in the HP novels to fit my needs. **

**Anyways, hope you enjoyed and stick around. Please leave a REVIEW, any kind will do! If you spot any grammatical/spelling/other errors, please let me know.**


	7. Act 2, Part II

**Disclaimer: You know the drill. Harry Potter is property of the amazing J.K. Rowling. **

**Author's note: Please Read, Enjoy, & Review!**

Julia rose from her seat on the bench, her hand reaching for one last piece of potato. Shay was just telling them about how her latest innovation had successfully rendered Filch completely covered in hair from head to toe. He closely resembled cousin It from the muggle television show 'The Adams Family'. They stole a glance at him standing at the edge of the professors' table. He was discretely attempting to relieve an itch beneath the layers of hair, pretending to comb it with his fingers when McGonagall's disapproving gaze fell upon him.

Julia's mouth was too full to laugh out loud without threatening to shower her friends with partially chewed potato. But despite her best efforts, small bits escaped her lips which she swiftly covered with a napkin. Watching McGonagall reprimand Filch about his inappropriate behaviour while everyone was dining and threatening not to relieve him of the jinx as promised after the supper was simply too hilarious. Realizing that she was still half standing, half straddling the bench spewing food as she erupted in partially restricted laughter, she looked around to see if the caught the attention to her peers around her, embarrassed. To her chagrin, the first person that met her eye was Remus Lupin. She gave him a nervous closed smile, her mouth still filled. He returned it with a grin of his own and left the Great Hall, presumably to meet her at the library as planned. Once he left, she fell to the bench deflated.

Julia swallowed and sighed. "Why, of all people, does _he_ always have to be the one to catch me at my worst?"

Lily, already finished, dabbed the edges of her lips with her napkin politely before replying, "The two of you grew up together, I'm pretty sure he's seen just about everything. Your parents bathed the two of you together when you were toddlers. What else is a mystery to him? A little bit of food dripping down your face isn't all that bad." Julia instinctively wiped her chin.

"That was a _long_ time ago, before we could walk or remember! Now, he's….he's….ugh! He's Remus!"

Shay feigned bewilderment. "So before he was… wait, I thought he was Remus."

Julia glared. "Oh shut up." But she looked defeated.

Shay softened. "Hey, just forget about it and go get tutored. If you don't make it more than it is, it won't get weird and complicated." She ushered Julia out of her seat and toward the doors. "Now go learn."

Julia caught the messenger bag that Shay tossed to her and smiled thanks. Stealing one last glance at Filch who was still itching, she marginally settled the nervous feeling rising in her gut. Walking briskly, she slipped through the doors and bumped into none other than Remus Lupin. Startled, he fumbled to catch the bar of chocolate that jumped out of his hands. Julia, with her Chaser-trained reflexes, snatched it from the air and read the wrapper, "Cadbury." She smiled nostalgically and handed it back.

Remus smiled meekly and offered her a piece. "I find it remedial." She politely declined. "Shall we go?" He held out his arm towards stairs that led to the library on the fourth floor.

They made the short journey through the dull grey halls making small talk, Julia recalling Shay's earlier triumph and Filch's current condition. Finally reaching their destination, Remus opened the door for Julia and they walked in. The room was large and the ceiling was high. The bookshelves seem to tower over them, the highest tomes brushing the ceiling. They were stacked full of thousands of books ranging from new to old to ancient. There was a long isle running down the middle of the library with several long tables similar to the ones in the great hall. A couple students sat along the tables, some of them working, but several asleep with their noses in their books, too tired to continue. Numerous other narrow isles branched between the bookshelves into the systematized maze that was the library. They smiled to Madam Pince, the librarian who returned a nod in acknowledgement. Remus directed Julia to his favourite place in the library. He personally spent several hours in the here; it was one of the only places where the other marauders rarely set foot. It was his private sanctuary.

His little spot was near the back located in an alcove created by a grand window. It was surrounded by several bookshelves creating a cozy secluded room. The two armchairs were placed adjacent to each other with a low coffee table set between them. They unloaded their books and supplies from their bags and spread them out.

"So Lupin—"

He winced and put his hand up to stop her. "Please Julia, this is ridiculous. There's no way I'll just call you Rhodes and it hurts to hear you address me as if we're strangers."

She looked down at her books and paused before repeating, "So Remus…"

"Better." He smiled. "So based on our last session, it seemed as if you were struggling the most with charms. I took the liberty of listing a few and recovering my notes on a couple distinctive ones that may have posed a problem. Let's just go through those and we'll add anything else you're not comfortable afterwards."

She nodded. He was all business.

"Alright then, let's start off with the silencing spell. It should be fairly simple." He shuffled a few of his papers until he had the one he wanted in his hand and laid it on the table for her to reference. They had laid out their respective notes for each spell on the table, Julia prepared to fill out hers with useful tips from Remus's. He looked up at her expectantly.

She took out her wand and pointed the tip at Remus. "_Silencio._"

Remus nodded and opened his mouth to speak but Julia was met with silence. He mouthed 'good job' before he motioned for her to remove the spell.

"Alright, now that we've warmed up, here's one that was taught more recently." Remus took out a parchment with the notes from the end of last year. "This is a binding spell. I want you to bind me to my chair with a set of ropes."

She nodded, not as confident as before. She closed her eyes, searching her memory for the right spell. Remus rotated his note and pushed it towards her to see. "_Incarcerous._" Remus watched a single rope appear before it dropped to the floor limp.

"Try it again, you have to rotate your wrist a little more like this, see?" He took her arm and demonstrated the correct form. Julia forced herself to concentrate memorize the motion of her wrist rather than the all too familiar sensation of his hand on her arm.

She shook her head to refocus. She repeated the wrist motion the way he showed her and he gave her an encouraging nod. "_Incarcerous,_" she said in a stronger voice. This time, ropes appeared quickly, binding Remus from his shoulders to his waist. He bounced up and down on his seat to test his restraints.

He smiled and removed the ropes. "Well done! That was perfect! Professor Flitwick would be proud."

Julia laughed. "Only if he could spare the time from praising Lily."

He chuckled and agreed. "So let's move on. How about something more exciting?" His eyes lit up. "Oh, let's set something on fire!"

Julia couldn't help but giggle. It was times like these where the reason behind him being friends with James and Sirius became clear. Despite being calm and mature, he still had a very active inner child. "Okay, but I was never very good at this one, in fact, I never actually got the hang of it," she admitted.

"Let's just try, shall we?" He ripped off a small corner of parchment and set it on a stone.

"Alright." She took a deep breath and raised her wand. "_Incendo._"

Nothing.

Julia sighed. "Told you."

Remus looked at her thoughtfully for a moment. "Could you repeat that please?" She repeated the charm. Nothing. "Okay, I think I see the problem. This is a more aggressive spell, it can even be used in defence class. The nature of casting the spell reflects its function. You're being too gentle; there isn't enough force behind your spell. Go ahead, try again."

Julia scrunched her eyebrows. "_Incendo!_" The edges of the leaf slowly curled, the edges charred.

"You have to jab your wand, Jules, jab." His hand jumped to his face. He realized the moment he let it slip: his old pet name for her. He blushed. "Sorry."

"_Incendo!_" She repeated. He let out a relieved breath seeing as she either didn't hear his mistake or pretended not to. Either way, she ignored it. Looking at the leaf however, it was ablaze! Grinning, he lifted his hand in the air for a high five. She returned it with enthusiasm, finally getting the charm.

"Oh my goodness! I couldn't even get that with Lily!" She turned her face to him. "You are a miracle!" Before she could catch herself, she enveloped Remus in a tight hug and his arm instinctively wrapped around her. Time stood still for a moment long enough for their embrace to grow awkward. As if realizing a dire mistake Julia hurriedly pulled away, knocking over their papers as she moved. Their eyes followed the papers, deliberately avoiding eye contact.

Remus fell to his knees to pick up the papers that had fallen. Dividing the papers into piles, one belonging to him and the other Julia's, he saw a corner of an envelope peeking out from the middle of the pile. He shuffled the pile to reveal more of the envelope. There was a vaguely familiar crest at the corner and it was addressed to Mary S. Laurie but to Julia's address back home. He racked his brain to try to recall someone with that name but couldn't. The label was printed on paper rather than written in ink. This was muggle mail.

Before he had the chance to satisfy his curiosity, the envelope was snatched from underneath his nose. Without realizing, Julia was crouched in front of him, holding her letter tight to her chest. It looked large and fat, the seal straining to keep its contents in. She scrambled to collect the remainder of her things. Remus looked down again, realizing that there was more than one of the letters with different crests either at the centre or the corner of the envelopes. All of them were thick, their contents maximizing the capacity of their envelopes.

Julia was silent but her nervousness was so obvious, she was almost announcing it to him. Quickly, she separated her belongings from his, even going so far as helping Remus pack his papers. Clearly, their session was over. Her franticness was contagious and he quickened his pace perplexed at her sudden change. When she finished, Julia jumped to her feet and threw her bag onto her shoulder.

She looked down at him, Remus still staring at her confused. She looked at her wrist and then around the room when she realized she was without a watch. "Er…Sorry, it's about time to check in with Potter. And Shay. And Black." She winced, realizing how unlikely the latter two would be in the same room at the same time. He must have seen through her excuse like glass. She thickened the lie. "Quidditch strategies. Plays. Players." A deep sigh. "Yes. Well, we'll continue another time, okay? Bye!" She walked quickly from the alcove and rounded the corner. Remus watched stunned and partially amused as she ran when she thought she was out of his view.

He shook his head and sighed, rising from his position on the floor. As he rose, he noticed a couple stray papers escaped Julia under her seat. Reaching under, he found a few of their notes and a large envelope. It had the crest on the top left corner, just like the others. This crest was yellow outlined in black and an upward angled white band ran horizontally through the middle, separating three lions. The print above the crest was blacked out. Remus strained to read beneath the ink. The first two letters were 'un'. He failed to read any more.

Remus heard the click of the library doors and assumed Julia had found the exit. Looking at the letter again he wondered, '_what is this?'_

* * *

Raisins! That's what her fingers looked like: raisins. Lily took her hands out of the sink and shook them free of water. Why couldn't she use magic in the kitchen? The whole concept of the lounge is the dining experience of dining in a muggle restaurant. Nobody is dining in the kitchen. Nobody is dining where she dispenses the garbage. No one is dining when she's scrubbing the kitchen floors. Nobody is even there when she's cleaning the tables and vacuuming the carpets after the doors were closed at night. It was a complete mystery to her as to why her magic was restricted the entire time she was at The Griffon. When she'd asked him about how he'd know if she was using magic, with or without a wand (without tipping him off that she was able to use wandless magic), he told her that there was a spell that was put on the restaurant. When someone used magic, a warning bell would sound. The customer would then be issued a warning and if the offence is repeated, they would be politely escorted out of the lounge. Lily had to resist the urge to test this mechanism. Perhaps he was lying the same way lifeguards say there's a chemical in the pool to turn urine blue to prevent children from contaminating the water.

Today was a Hogsmeade day and Lily could see several schoolmates walking outside through the window. Lily huffed, the foam in the sink blowing away. The double-sink was massive; it was large enough to bathe several small children. The kitchen counter was pure red and gold marble and ran across all four walls. The walls were coated with a crimson paint, the ceiling a brilliant gold. It didn't take a genius to guess the owner was a Gryffindor. The appliances were grander than any she's ever seen before. There was a huge maroon convection oven that must have cost a fortune. The walk-in fridge and freezer was large enough to house a small family. There were two stoves, each with ten separate burners. Everything was stainless steel, the appliances lining the room with several islands in the centre where the preparation was mostly done. Trays, ladles, spatulas, cutting boards, pot and pans hung off each island while every other kitchen necessity were stored in the wooden cupboards beneath the counters. The kitchen was extraordinary. So why was it missing a giant marvellous dishwasher?

The other students were out having fun, enjoying their time while Lily was imprisoned in here. The lunch rush just ended and there were fewer customers now. Drying her last dish, she put it on the rack and grabbed a new clean towel and spray, and headed out the kitchen door. A few booths were full, two long tables were being used, and there was a man at the bar. Most of the customers were finished their meal and were just enjoying each other's company. Lily made her way towards Kelvin, cleaning empty tables along the way. Kelvin was drying a glass. She deeply appreciated that he never added to her work load. He washed and dried all of his glasses personally. He also religiously disinfected his counter. The empty bottles were still her responsibility but he made sure to offer to help her whenever he handed over the bar's trash. She took a seat on the maroon velvet covered stool. She scanned the room quickly making sure James was still in his office upstairs.

"So my job is pure torture, how's yours?" Lily plopped herself onto one of the bar stools. Kelvin quickly wiped the part of the counter in front her before her body collapsed on the cold marble.

He laughed. "I'm doing pretty well. And your job can't be that bad. And even if it is, the big-ass pay check must make it worthwhile." It was true. It was a dirty job. Not many were willing to work without magic and Potter was generous without being kind.

She smiled. "It's not like I get to spend it personally. Every penny I earn is sent home. Usually, when I'm at a bad job I just tell myself 'it could be worse' but this time, I don't think I can." She huffed, blowing a stray hair from her face. Kelvin couldn't help but laugh at her misery. They heard the sound of James's office door slam shut. Did that man not know how to close the door gently? Either way, Lily shot up from her seat and darted towards the nearest table and whipped out a cloth to start wiping. By the time James came down, she was clearing a nearby table and Kelvin was attending the lone man at the bar.

"Greetings Mr. Potter," Kelvin said with a grin.

James returned the smile. "Mr. Teoh." James made small talk with the bartender while periodically looking at Lily who was vigorously wiping a nearby table and observed her work.

Lily could feel the scrutinizing stare of her boss while she sprayed some more Lysol. Why does he have to do that? He doesn't stare at every employee this way. He does not stare at Kelvin while he's cleaning his glasses. He doesn't stare at Chef Michael while he's cooking, at least not in the irritating and intimidating way he does to her.

Finally, growing tired of being watched, Lily turned around to face the owner of those patronizing hazel eyes. Just as she suspected, James was facing her while half sitting on one of the stools, one of his leg bent, foot on the foot rest and sipping from a drink that Kelvin no doubt prepared. Drinking on the job, how irresponsible. And illegal.

James looked at her with an indifferent face with a subtle underlay of arrogance. "You missed a spot." He pointed at the spot she just wiped.

Gritting her teeth, she wiped it again and gave him a massive forced smile. "Satisfied, Mr. Potter?"

"Getting closer. I see you have several dishes. You know that it reflects poorly on the lounge if you leave them in sight, Miss Evans."

She fought the urge not to role her eyes. "Yes, I'll get to those in a moment."

He raised his eyebrows in expectance.

This time she couldn't fight it and made a show to rolled her eyes at him. "...Mr. Potter," she added. He grinned. _What an ass._

Before she could mentally curse James Potter anymore, the door opened and a familiar face walked in.

"Hi Lily!" It was Benjamin Parchment.

_Oh no, how did he find me?_ She looked at him like a deer caught in headlights. "Err, hi Ben. See, I'd love to chat but I'd best be going. The dishes are calling."

"Oh, but wait. I've been looking for you all day and I've finally found you. Can't you take a little while off and join me for a drink? Or better yet, come on a real date with me. You've been working all day. Come on, what do you say?"

"Sorry Ben, I'm afraid I can't take any time off. I'm already behind on my duties and my boss will have a fit if he catches me not working." Her eyes shifted to James. Perhaps his controlling attitude could come in handy. She hoped that rather than embarrassing the poor boy in front of the entire restaurant with her rejection, James would save her the trouble.

Expecting James to nod in agreement, maybe even add how absurd an idea it was that he'd even consider such a thing, she was surprised to see a mischievous grin on her boss's face. Such an overlap of 'school Potter' and 'Mr. Potter' never happened. He got off of his stool and walked towards them.

"Mr. Parchment, what a pleasure." The men shook hands. "And I agree, maybe it's time for Lily to take a break. Go ahead, take the rest of the day off. I promise I won't dock you any pay. Go on." She looked at him in shock. Never had he ever shown such kindness to her at work. He'd never just let her go off if she asked to spend the day with friends rather than clean the kitchen. Maybe it was because it was so evident that letting her go was not a demonstration of 'kindness' based on how reluctant she was to go. Killing her with his kindness, what a twisted application of the phrase.

"Wonderful!" Ben raced to where he was standing and took the bucket from her hand that was held the Lysol along with her other equipment, and handed it to James. James was a little stunned at the gesture but Ben was moving too fast. By the time his retort was at his lips, Ben had already ushered Lily out the front door.

* * *

"I had a nice time," Lily said to Ben as they arrived outside of The Griffon. It was late in the evening by now, the only lights illuminating their faces now coming from the street lamps and the lights from the inside of The Griffon. It was beginning to get chilly and Lily was tired, hoping to quickly finish up inside and get back to her dorm. Although Ben was to arrive back at Hogwarts, Lily had the duty of locking up despite taking the remainder of the afternoon off. She wasn't lying about having a nice time, albeit a bit boring. Any break from work was welcomed. She could see that he put the effort into keeping a conversation constantly going, never allowing them to lapse into silence. He asked her about her friends, her family, even about people she didn't like, namely Potter. What she aspired to do with her life, what she thought of Hogwarts. She always responded with short answers, never any true detail. There just wasn't that natural ease between the pair of them.

"That's great because I had a wonderful time! I guarantee that next time will be even better." He had such a great big smile plastered on his face, Lily didn't have the heart to say no (despite not being asked, but told about a second date), nor the time as she suspected she was already late. She just returned a wavering smile and curt nod and turned to face the grand crimson doors and end their night together. Before she could push them open, Ben took her arm, spun her around and crashed his lips onto hers. She was so shocked, she awkwardly stared at his close-up face, her arms stiffly at her sides. Frozen, all she could think of was how wrong it felt, as if they were two puzzle pieces forced together despite belonging on separate ends of the picture. Finally, after a few awkward moments, he pulled away, said good bye, and raced back towards the castle. It took a couple seconds for Lily to realize what just happened. Far from the best kiss she ever experienced, it was certainly the most uncomfortable and unexpected. Lily wiped her lips with her fingers unconsciously and pushed open the front door.

Inside, she expected it to be empty. However, sitting at the bar was James Potter, waiting like an overprotective father after curfew. She should have expected that, seeing as he liked to keep tabs on her at all times. Most of the lights were off, save a the one above the bar. It cast long shadows over James's face and exaggerating his disappointed look.

"Did you have a good time?" He asked, clearly disinterested.

"Yes, it was pleasant."

He got off his stool and walked to her so he stood only a foot away. "What were you thinking, disregarding your duties like that? Do you think I simply forgive those who walk out on the job?"

She looked at him, stunned. "I beg your pardon? If I recall correctly, you gave me permission to leave!"

"I presented you an opportunity to demonstrate your loyalty to this job. But clearly it doesn't mean much to you. Why would I allow you to continue working here knowing that you would dash off every time the opportunity presented itself? Did you know that I was left to finish your cleaning?" His voice was cool and collected but with each word, Lily felt increasingly aggravated since he was the one who let her go when she wanted to stay. He practically _made_ her go. "Each employee has a role in this establishment and when people start giving their work load to others, that's when chaos begins. This is your last warning Miss Evans. And I will teach you that there are consequences to your irresponsible actions."

"But you said—"

"I will keep my word and not dock your pay. Instead during your next shift, you are to work the hours that you took off today to make up for the time you've lost. In addition, before you lock up tonight, you are to continue your chores that you should have done today."

"But that'll take me hours!" She was furious. Her hands balled into fists at her sides, resisting the need to strangle James. This wasn't fair!

"These are the consequences and they aren't meant to be pleasant. Get to it." James turned his back to her to leave. She was shaking at the injustice. How could he be so cruel? Her teeth grinded together so hard, she though they would crack at the sheer force she was using to retain the string of curses she held on the tip of her tongue. The lights in the restaurant flashed on and off, her magic sparking out of control like a young untrained witch. She barely registered the soft warning bell coming from the nearest booth. The lamp next to James's head shattered, the shards barely missing his face.

Slowly, he turned around to face her. "You're paying for that."

**Author's note: Oh dear, it's been a while. Hope you enjoyed and please leave a review! Thanks! Another chapter will be up soon!  
**


	8. Act 2, Part III

**Disclaimer: Nothing's changed. J.K. Rowling still owns everything recognizable. **

**Author's Note: Please Read, Enjoy & Review.**

Lily had one night and day to calm down from the incident at The Griffon. She loathed James for making her stay overtime while not being paid for her extra work, as well as depriving her of several hours of sleep. She was still annoyed. The only thing that kept her from mouthing off to him was his seniority over her at The Griffon. However, while at Hogwarts where they are on equal grounds she took every opportunity to express her anger. Never had she yelled at Potter about work outright while at school, but she made sure to snap at him every time he spoke about anything else. Not that she didn't do that often enough, it was just much more intense and more frequent today. Even Shay and Julia commented at how easily set off she was by him. She probably yelled at James more in the last 24 hours than in the last month combined.

She pushed open the door leading out of the head's common room, wrapping her cloak tighter around her shoulders. It was chilly at night but to put another layer on top or beneath her robe would be out of uniform and she would not want to set a bad example, especially to those troublemakers she would no doubt catch later that night. It was James and Lily's night to patrol and she planned to spilt up the moment he arrived to save her voice from the yelling matches she predicted.

Lily began to walk, her heels clicking at the cement floor, the sound echoing softly off the dull brownish grey walls and tall ceilings. She expected James to find her eventually; he seemed to always pop up everywhere she was anyways.

Lily rubbed her arms to keep her from shivering. Hogwarts at night was colder than she anticipated. A piece of clothing suddenly covered the hands she wrapped around her body. A second cloak rested on her shoulders.

"Hey Lily." James had arrived. He smiled at her, his hands lingering on her shoulders.

"It's Evans to you." She shrugged them off but let the cloak stay. "You're late Potter."

"I got held up but I'll note that you need and miss my company for next time." He gave her a charming grin. She gaped at him. It's like the night at the lounge never happened.

She rolled her eyes and began walking again. Although she hoped to part ways for the night, Potter's echoing footsteps forewarned her that a night in solitude was not going to be an option. Turning the corner, she arrived at a clearly occupied broom closet. By the time James jogged up to her the pair was staring at a short wooden door stationed between the windows and an empty classroom. Low moans were escaping the closet as well as the sounds of shuffling of clothing across the walls and the floor. They jumped at the sudden bang on the other side of the door followed by a loud uncensored moan. James looked a Lily and saw her eyes widen in surprise and a blush creep to her face. He resisted the urge to laugh at her innocence as the voices from the opposite side of the door echoed through the halls.

James stepped forward and knocked loudly on the door. Normally he would have just swung it open but based on what he was hearing, he might have seen more than he wanted to so he allowed them a moment to get decent. "Hey, it's the Heads! You guys have ten seconds to get dressed and get out. Ten...nine...three, two, one!"

Two people burst out the door towards them. The boy tripped over himself and nearly fell on Lily, her outstretched arms supporting his weight. James ripped him off her and shoved him in the opposite direction. They couldn't possibly be more than fourth years. The girl was holding her blouse to cover her pink and orange patterned bra and wrapped her robe around her. The boy had a pile of clothes in his hands, wearing only a pair of boxers, a white wife-beater, and a yellow and black tie loosely around neck.

"Five points each from Hufflepuff. Now get back to your dorms or its fifty points each next time. Plus detention." James watched them scamper off, neither of them even minimally shameful. "Goodness, that's gross. I can't believe that a broom closet is the most popular place for people to hook up."

Lily, who was shocked into stoned silence (they were just so _young_), snapped her focus to him. "Wait, what? _You're_ against broom closet hook ups? I would have thought you were one of their most frequent occupants."

James looked at her, offended. "Really? Come on, I'd like to think I've got more class than that. It's disgusting in there. There are rats that get in there and they piss all over the place. Plus people are in there all the time, do you know what kind of cocktail is on that floor? How could a man bring the girl they fancy into a place like this?"

She was nothing short of shocked at his speech. James Potter rumoured to be one of Hogwarts' most promiscuous men, claiming to never have used a broom closet for more than their cleaning supplies or potentially the occasional prank.

She momentarily repressed her anger. She realized that her voice was growing raspy and quieter from all the yelling throughout the day anyways. And she supposed there were alternative ways to aggravate people. Besides this new revelation was her opportunity to have a little fun. "How do you know that it's always a guy that leads his partner here?"

James's eyes widened to the size of saucers, the air suddenly vacuumed out of his lungs. "Have _you_ even been in here?" he asked, pointing at the narrow wooden door. He was beyond shocked. "No way. Have you ever led a guy into one of these?" He couldn't believe it!

Lily surprised him with a laugh and kept walking. James ran after her again. But knowing that she wouldn't share, he composed himself, switched subjects and asked, "So I don't believe I've asked you this yet but how was your summer?"

Her auburn hair bounced when she turned to face him. Her eyes were scrutinizing and reproachful. "Why do you care?"

"Why wouldn't I?" His eyes softened. "And you know I do." She watched the green and golden flecks of his eyes flicker with concern and a slow, small smile graced his face. Lily almost understood why so many of Hogwarts' girls loved him. Even she had to admit that he was aesthetically pleasing. But then she reminded herself of the arse he could be at school and the even bigger arse he was at work. She sighed. Fine, she'd answer his questions. She's stuck with him for the next hour anyways and civil small talk is favoured over their customary unpleasant exchanges. She was exhausted and besides, she's yelled at him enough today to last the week.

"My summer was nothing special. I was working overtime every day with minimal time for any social life. My sister got engaged to a whale of a man. My mother acted as if the world centred around the upcoming wedding and my father fell even deeper into his depression." She didn't look at him as she walked but she felt his heavy gaze on her. She thought if she gave the conversation an uncomfortable turn, it would deter him from asking anymore questions and their evening could laps into peaceful silence.

James couldn't help but stare at her with mixed emotions. How could he not know that her life was so... sad. Being with her for the past six years, he thought he knew everything about her: her favourite colour, her favourite American dish, even her favourite time of day. She was always so cheerful at school (at least when he wasn't in the immediate vicinity). But she barely ever talked about her life outside of Hogwarts; this is the first she's ever spoken up about her family. Not that she ever talked to him at all besides at highly elevated volumes.

"I'm sure if you spent the summer with me, you would have had a great time." He smiled at Lily. Expecting her to roll her eyes and quicken her pace, she surprised him when she elbowed him sharply but chuckled.

"What did you do?" The surprises continued. She looked at him after the pause. His eyebrows disappeared behind his bangs in surprise. "What? If I'm stuck with you all night, I might as well make it as least miserable as possible." Her hands readjusted the second cloak that rested on her shoulders and decided to postpone the grudge she held for last night's incident at work. It was late and he was being genuinely nice at the moment. It was a temporary truce. Bickering would only ruin it.

His face broke into a smile. "Okay, alright, fair enough. Well it was my parents' twenty third anniversary, so big celebration. Sirius drank, he pissed off Shay of course, sober and drunk, we partied and played Quidditch. It was simple but awesome fun."

"Wow, must be a bit crazy having them in the same house all the time." Lily laughed at the thought.

"Actually, Shay lives in a separate bungalow on the estate. It's kind of off to the side and closer to the forest but there is an underground hall that connects it to the main house. She never uses that path to get to the manor though. Sirius always rigs it to do something nasty. The house elves are mainly the victims of his pranks now."

Lily smiled at the mental image of the house elves falling victim to Sirius's evil creations. If they are anything like the ones he sets for Shay at Hogwarts, the poor things must be miserable and deathly afraid of that underground connection. After a moment, her smile fell, replaced by one of suspicious curiosity. "I've always wondered, why does Shay stay with you and your family? I mean, all she's ever told us was that her parents were constantly unavailable and your parents and hers were close friends. I never wanted to push it since she doesn't ever elaborate but I've always wondered."

James slowed down his pace and looked to the floor, contemplating what to say. If Shay didn't feel ready to tell her closest friends then it wasn't his story to tell. Lily dropped the subject as if she read his mind.

The pair continued to talk throughout their patrol. They took turns asking each other questions like a friendly game of truth between acquaintances. Lily even forgot that they were enemies for a while. It scared her. He made for pleasant company in private at school but on the other hand, he could be mercilessly cruel at work. Half-way through the night, Lily formally separated the two James Potters: the school Potter and the work Potter, otherwise known as 'Mr. Potter'. James and Lily had promised to separate their two lives and places (the unwritten no-crossover clause), and since school Potter was currently much more tolerable, she decided that the grudge she held against 'Mr. Potter' could wait until the next time he struck a nerve at work. Time flew by until their patrol was up, catching a second couple in an empty classroom and a few hyper first years setting up a prank in the trophy room. By the end of the night, the hour felt like mere minutes.

The pair ended up at their shared common room and James said the password to let them in. The room was spacious yet small enough to feel cosy. The red and gold decor reflected the house from which they both belong. There was a full chestnut coloured cloth couch and two single sofa's opposite of the long rectangular coffee table that rested in the centre. The fire was roaring in the hearth, its flames illuminating the room. The walls were a dark red, the patterns lined in fine gold. The short staircases on opposite ends of the far wall, one on either side, led to their separate rooms. Neither of them stayed there often except for their patrol nights when they returned late and didn't want to disturb their roommates.

Before they parted James said, "So last question." James looked at her, his face lit up and curious. "Who was your first and most memorable crush?"

A little taken back, she stumbled for her words, "Er, crush? Like the first boy I ever fancied?" James nodded. "Well now you're getting a bit too nosy." She started towards her staircase.

He followed her. He rested his hand on the golden handrail pleading for her to stop. "Oh please! We were on a roll, don't ruin it now." He gave her his best puppy dog face.

She looked at him for a moment in contemplation and then sighed, relenting. "Oh alright, and I assure you that my compliance has nothing to do with your pitiful facial expression." For a moment, she stared into space in recollection. "Hmm, there was this boy once when I was about eight. I really can't remember much but he was my neighbour across the street. His name was Joshua Russel. He had these kind blue eyes and an adventurous attitude and like me at the time, he was oblivious to the wizard world. So every time something strange happened related to my accidental magic, he'd make up this crazy story and I couldn't help but be comforted. He was just always there. It was as if his purpose was to make me smile when nothing else could." There was silence for a moment. Then Lily shook her head, freeing herself from her nostalgic trance. "How about you?"

James, who was mentally substituting the boy in her story with a younger version of himself, came back to the present. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to think back. Lily bit her lip, making the effort not to comment on his annoying habit. His face lit up in an excited nostalgic smile and he started. "Well I'll admit I was a bit of a late bloomer. Most kids have their first crush when they're ridiculously little. Me, I was eleven at the time. See, I was always too preoccupied with pranking girls to find anything attractive about them. And besides, they had what Shay had then labelled as 'cooties'. Apparently they were viscously contagious and men could only contract the disease from females." Lily couldn't help but be quickly entranced by his story. The thought of a little James Potter running from little girls screaming 'cooties!' evoked an irresistible laugh. "Well anyways, there was this day at Diagon Alley and my mum was shopping for new robes for me while I was playing at Zonko's. There was this new toy where when you took it out of the wrapper and it made contact with something, it would explode this neon pink coloured foamy goo. It was fantastic!

"I've always been an impatient person when it came to newly purchased toys; I have to open it immediately. So I rushed to open one and I unwrapped it a little too excitedly and it popped out of the wrapper. Unfortunately, it landed on a little girl in front of me and in a few seconds, she was covered from head to toe in pink gunk. Goodness, until that day, I've never seen anyone so angry so quickly and I couldn't apologise fast enough. But she didn't cry or scream. No, she grabbed another one of my new Zonko's products, I can't recall the name of them, unwrapped it, and shoved it up my nose. I swear I was sneezing pink snot for over a week!

"I don't know what it was but I was immediately smitten. No one stood up to me like that before, ever. Even though it was a mistake I've always been let off easy. I supposed I was a little spoiled. But she was different, defiant and I couldn't help but admire her for it. Too bad she was covered in a layer of pink foam. I didn't get a good look at her. But I bet if I met her again, I'd be smitten all over."

Lily looked at him. James's eyes were glazed over as if recollecting about a lost love. He was so young yet he still had _that_ look. It was a familiar look. Making light of it she asked, "How can you be so sure? You were eleven!"

James faced her again. "I don't know, I just do. Maybe I wouldn't recognize her for the girl that made me sneeze pink snot but I'd fancy her all the same. When you're little, it might seem silly to adults because you're so young but your emotions are raw, untainted, and your feelings are so pure. I could quote it was love at first sight or that one's first love is the strongest but really, she was just… special." He smiled at Lily as if the girl he was speaking of was standing in her place. Never had she thought that James would think so deeply about a girl, as soon as the age of eleven no less. She just believed he chased whatever was in a skirt, much like his closest partner in crime.

The clock chimed. It was midnight. "It's late, we should get to bed," James mentioned but quickly added, "separately, I mean," with a sheepish smile.

"Yes." Lily turned around and made her way into her room. Before she closed her door she turned to James's retreating figure and said, "Potter?"

"Ye―" James was cut off and his vision clouded in black. After a quick moment of confusion, he reached for his face and pulled what he discovered to be his cloak off his head.

"Thanks." It was barely a whisper but James could see that she was biting back a smile. She slipped into her room and he waited til he heard the soft click of her door before turning towards his own.

In Lily's room, there was a four poster double bed in the centre. It was nothing special. The walls matched the shared common room. Her sheets were from home, red with little cartoon characters graffitied all over. At the foot of her bed was a larger trunk than the one in her Gryffindor room barely filled with any personal belongings. In the corner of her room was a large wooden desk that was collecting a faint layer of dust. In all honesty, she's only ever been in this room to stay the night. The only clothing in her trunk was a pair of pyjamas and a couple sets of undergarments. And the only other thing that brought her to the Head's room was the bathroom. Other than that, her room was never occupied.

Pictures lined the top of her desk and she picked up an old rectangular wooden frame from the left corner. It was one of the only photos that remained static; it was a photo taken from a muggle camera. She remembered this image and smiled. It was her first trip to the wizard world, an amazing new place. They were picking up her first new wand, robes, books, and other school supplies that she would need for her first year in Hogwarts. Her mother was about to take a picture, a memorabilia of her first step towards being a witch when someone tumbled into her and violent spreading pink foam engulfed her. The picture was snapped and she couldn't have been more furious.

The picture was of a young Lily Evans, unrecognizable under all the pink foam, shocked. And in the corner of the photo was the back of a messy haired boy backing away, his hands up in innocence. Lily couldn't help but smile at the recollection.

She should have known it was Potter.

* * *

Lily walked through the grand arch that made the entrance to the Great Hall. With Julia and Shay at her sides, the trio started to make their way to their usual seats. Walking down the aisle along the Gryffindor's table, Lily's eyes fell on James who smiled at her from a little further down the room. He waved her over inviting them to join the Marauders for breakfast.

Waking up this morning felt like snapping from a dream. A kind Potter? Impossible. But it was real that they spent the evening exchanging civil conversation. It was real that they avoided any arguments all night. It was real that they laughed together. Lily didn't raise her voice at him even once. It was so surreal. Normally, she would sneer at him rejecting his invitation immediately, a notion seconded by Shay. But this morning she continued towards James past where the three ladies would usually sit. She wanted to know if yesterday was real. If they could pick up from where they left off in civil conversation then maybe it was a sign of change.

Although Lily had a plan in mind, her walking towards the three boys they never willingly acknowledged baffled Shay. "Er, Lils, what are you doing? We just passed our seats!"

"We're going to make friends with our enemies." Lily continued without looking away from James. When they reached their destination, there was an awkward pause of silence. James's smile expanded with a mixture of surprise and glee. Sirius was stunned that the three stopped before them. But when he looked at Shay, he jumped to his feet and scowled. Shay glared at Sirius. Julia stared at the food. Remus looked between every one of them, trying to make sense of the situation. When his eyes landed on Julia, he smiled at her expression and erupted in laughter. The silence was broken.

"Nothing tears your eyes away from food when you're hungry, eh? Come sit." Remus patted the seat next to him. Julia blushed a pretty pink but hopped the table and sat by his side.

"Mutt." Shay glared.

"Fang." Sirius gave a sickening sardonic smile.

James tore his eyes from Lily and sighed. "Do I have to separate you two? Just sit your asses down. We're hungry." They all sat down, Lily next to James and Shay and Sirius on either end.

The tension was almost tangible. Sirius sarcastically took the butter knife and sliced the air. Smacking him across the back on his head, James brought up the universal wizard icebreaker. "So who's excited for Quidditich?"

Everyone perked up at the word. Out of the six of them, four of them were on the team. Despite their feuds off the pitch, they were an impeccable team when on it.

"Damn right. With Prongs leading us this year again, those Slytherins will be pissing themselves in shame while we chug fire whisky out of that trophy!" He slapped James on the back and high fived Julia's free hand.

"Bloody hell I can't wait! We're gonna be brilliant!" Shay almost yelled. Her eyes caught Sirius's and their mirrored faces immediately fell. Although the closest they would get to agreeing off the pitch, their loathing outweighed any kind of teamwork they shared while on it.

Julia swallowed her waffle and whined, "Aw this isn't fair! I'm supposed to be there!" Although Julia was one of the Gryffindor chasers, she had her tutoring in the way of today's try-outs. It was the only time Remus's and Julia's schedules were both free. Evidently, Julia forgot about quidditch. She hung her head in shame.

Remus patted her shoulder consolingly. "If we finish earlier, you can still make it on the pitch in time to practice a little. God knows James holds the longest tryouts anyways, you'll make it in time for at least the latter half."

Ignoring the rest of them, James was still on his happy high. "Are you going to join us? It's the official rookie try-outs for the Gryffindor team. We'll be trying people out today to fill out the seeker and the other chaser position," he asked Lily.

Lily laughed, grateful that her 'dream' last night was a continuing reality. Maybe school James's new attitude could extend to 'Mr Potter' at work. But that was just wishful thinking. "Oh I'd love to, I mean my two best friends are on the team and I always attend but no. I have a previous appointment."

This was a first for Shay. "What? You're missing this important annual ritual where I get to let out all my pent up frustrations over the summer on people I don't know!"

Lily laughed. "Sorry. Ben sort of tricked me into accepting a date and I'm supposed to meet him on the grounds. I'm sorry. You can tell me all about it later." Lily looked at her watch and realized she was running late. Quickly gathering her things she got up to leave the hall.

A scowl made its way to James's face and his body tensed. "I suppose that's for the best. We wouldn't want to be distracted by Evans and her new boytoy anyways."

Lily whipped around, too shocked to respond with her usual sharp wit. Where had that menace come from? They were having such a pleasant conversation only seconds before. But when her eyes met his angry patronizing gaze, it was like glass shattering, their temporary truce forgotten.

"Potter, you―"

James looked away from her and down to his food, completely disinterested. "Perhaps you've already forgotten but I thought you had a date to keep." His voice was flat and cool. Lily stared at him, fuming. His mood swings were worse than every woman in the Great Hall at their time of the month combined. But he was right, she was running late. She huffed and stomped her foot despite how childish she knew she would look and left with her chin held high.

Turning to his friends again, he wore a stony expression rippling with restrained anger. "Alright guys, put your food down. It's time to go."

Sirius was clearly not happy. "But I'm just getting started!"

James's eyebrows creased into a deep frown. "You're finished. We're all finished and it's time to get on the pitch and get started. We haven't practiced seriously all summer and there's a lot we need to improve on. We also have to choose the best of the lot who think they're good enough to be on the team. It'll be long and intense in this game of survival of the fittest because everyone else would just be wasting our time." Turning away from the group, expecting them to collect their things and follow, James stomped away from the table. The group looked at one another, confused with his sudden mood swing but followed his lead anyways.

Mr. Potter was back.

**Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I promise the next one will be more exciting! Thank you for reading and please please leave a review. See you next chapter!**


	9. Act 2, Part IV

**Disclaimer: HP isn't mine.**

**Author's Note: So here's another one! Please Read, Enjoy, and Review!**

James swooped down with his arm outstretched and rescued the Quaffle from the forces of gravity. He streaked towards to goalposts and effortlessly threw it past the keeper into the shortest hoop. Smiling, he gave a quick pat on the back of the keeper who was grinning despite his failure to guard the hoops.

"And _that _is how it's done!" He yelled over the small crowd.

There was a surprisingly large turnout for this year's rookie tryouts. For the outside chaser position alone, there were over twenty hopeful Gryffindors ranging from second to seventh year. So far, they have already gone through exercises regarding accuracy and James assessed the power of their throws. During practices James removed the charm on the Quaffle meant to slow its descent, to make the chasers' jobs more difficult. He justified that it would make the chasers all the more agile, forcing them to exercise their reflexes and speed. When it came to shooting, most of them were quite adequate, averaging about eight out of ten goals. However, when he added the pressure of a mock opponent, several fell under the pressure and the average plummeted to a mere 50 per cent success. Now that he introduced their keeper, not one potential chaser has made a goal yet. Granted, their fifth year chaser Derek Serjeantson, was a prodigy. Since his joining of the Gryffindor team in second year, like good quality wine, he only improved with age. Only James, and Julia on occasion, could make the Quaffle pass him.

James ran his hand through his hair; an unconscious habit. Sitting atop of his broom, a brand new silver arrow, he basked in the warm morning sun. A nostalgic smile stretched onto his face and he closed his eyes in pure bliss. There was absolutely nothing that rivalled the feeling of being on the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch. He relished in the familiarity of the towering stands, the evergreen grass, the tall golden hoops at either end of the pitch, and the feel of the pitch itself. He stretched his arms out to his sides, a breeze chasing the tail of his robe. It was like a greeting, a welcome. _It's good to be home._

It has been almost an hour already and James moved onto the last stage of the chaser tryouts. By now only one person had made a goal, a small girl no less. Derek was in complete shock (despite knowing that the exercise was to screen for someone who _could_ shoot a goal). Derek was one of the main reasons why the Gryffindor team went undefeated the previous year and he hated how this made him question his skill. Now, James acted as the potential opponent, his job being to rush each chaser in line. He made them work in a group of three to best replicate a game situation. As a final detail, he freed a bludger that the chasers would have to evade on their way to the hoops. Shay de Vlad, the returning blind side beater, was playing as the opposite team, aiming not to unseat but to create an obstacle for the players. Sirius Black was the open side beater. In this scrimmage, he played for the potential chasers and defended them from the bludger.

As James expected, many failed. In fact, it was such a disappointment that James was beginning to think that he would not be able to find a chaser at all. He let out an audible groan. Running his hand through his hair one more time, he steeled himself for the last group. He rushed, darting for the first boy in possession of the Quaffle. James took a lazy swipe at the ball, forcing the boy to pass it to his redheaded teammate who flew in an arc behind him. James wasn't fooled. His broom was swift; he easily angled the nose of his broom and watched the quaffle dart between the redheaded boy and the petite brunette girl, closing the distance between them and the goalposts. Derek flew forward to the edge of his circle like a goalie would in football when their opponent drew close. At the last second, the girl shot vertically into the air, James hot on her tail. When she was sufficiently high enough, she dropped the ball faster than James could switch directions. The boy who was initially in possession caught the ball and shot it towards the leftward hoop from outside the white shaded area surrounding the goalposts. Derek dived to the left and tipped it out of the way with the ends of his fingers, relieved. Suddenly, the petite girl appeared right next to him as if she apparated. Derek watched in slow motion as the Quaffle slowly fell into her aim. James was just too far. The girl spun on her broom catching the Quaffle with the centre of the dark polished bristles. With amazing accuracy, the Quaffle soared through the centre hoop and out the other end. Her redheaded teammate quickly made his way around and caught it with a satisfied grin. Derek hung off his broom with his jaw slack and mouth open in shock. James sank down to his level and smirked, pleased that he found his new outside chaser.

Derek was still in a daze. His eyes followed the girl who had scored on him not once, but _twice_. She shared a congratulatory high-five with her teammates and one of them tossed her the crimson ball. She let go of her broom and spun the Quaffle on her finger. She turned around and her chocolate brown hair fanned out behind her. Catching Derek gaping, she smiled cheerfully and winked. He coughed, trying to regain his composure and stammered out, "I t-think I'm in love."

James roared with robust laughter. Looking between the two, it seemed like this year's tryouts was a success in more ways than one. He laid a heavy hand on the keeper's shoulder and gave a comforting squeeze. "Don't worry mate, I know the feeling."

* * *

Lily sighed. How did she get herself into these kinds of situations: unnecessarily uncomfortable with no means of escape without being uncouth. And Lily Evans prided herself on being very respectful (with the exception of when she was with Potter). She looked at the young man across from her. Benjamin was currently sifting through a picnic basket, probably trying to fish out another bottle of butterbeer. They've already been out here for the last hour and all she could think of is how she would much rather be watching the Quidditch tryouts. The pair was sitting on a picnic blanket near the Quidditch pitch; close enough to watch the players soar across the skies but not quite close enough to make out the individual players. She looked back at the pitch and groaned.

Ben's head snapped up out of the basket and asked, "Is there something wrong Lily?" He followed her gaze. "Are you a fan of Quidditch?"

She couldn't help but give him a look that said '_Are you daft? Who in the Wizarding world doesn't enjoy quidditch?'_ But she bit her lip to restrain herself. Instead she politely replied, "But of course. In fact, I wish I played. I've never been terrible at flying I suppose, considering I've got two best friends who spend half their time on broomsticks but I've never considered myself good enough to play on the team. And besides, I'm too busy with Head duties, extra credit, and tutoring to spend any time in the air."

"Oh well then, we should go flying sometime!" Excitement had bloomed into his voice. "I don't know if I've mentioned this but I've been considering trying out for the Ravenclaw team. I played at Durmstrang and I must admit, I was told I was quite skilful."

She smiled politely while passively listening to him recount his Quidditch adventures. Lily couldn't put her finger on it but despite Ben's outward happy and optimistic personality, she felt as if it were slightly forced. When he smiled at her, it looked rehearsed. When he touched her arm or rested his hand on her back, it was almost controlling. It was like the Benjamin Parchment that sat next to her was a character, a persona that he wore much like an actor would slip into a role.

Lily caught herself staring and looked away. Her eyes found the Quidditch pitch again. She squinted. She could make out a light blond player high above the rest of them along with two others as they watched the drills commence. She could only assume that they were Potter, Black, and Shay, the seniors of the team. She sighed, wishing she were there too.

"So er…you and Potter." Lily whipped around to face him. "What's going on between the two of you? I mean I wouldn't want to interfere or anything." Ben looked suspiciously bashful but honestly curious.

Lily blinked. _That was forward._ "There's nothing between us. Where did you even get such an absurd idea? I find him incredibly irritating and he acts like an abrasive spoiled child."

Ben chuckled, his hand rising to rub the back of his neck. "I didn't mean anything by it, honest. No need to get defensive. I just mean, well I heard that er… bad things happen to those who show too much interest in you. You know, the occasional waking up suspended in a random hallway or suddenly changing green. I just thought that maybe it was a 'get away from my girl' kind of territorial warning."

Lily scowled. "I can assure you, I am _not_ his girl."

Ben closed his eyes and let out a breath. "Good." Lily barely noticed it, but underneath the relief in his voice was a slight hint of antipathy.

She called him on it. "Do you have a problem with Potter? I mean you've only been at Hogwarts for a short time."

Ben looked up at her like a deer caught in headlights. He let out a nervous chuckle. "You caught that did you? Well I guess there's no hiding it then." He sighed. "I don't know if you've ever heard of the Ministry Ball." She nodded tentatively. "When we were younger, I saw James there all the time. The ball is more than a way for the adults to socialize and gossip. It's a way for certain families to establish status; who they socialize with, what they talk about, even what drinks they order. And then there are their children. We were also like status symbols based on our achievements, and our behaviour and mannerism. Long story short, he took sick pleasure in humiliating me. I was always the butt of his jokes and pranks." His voice quieted as if he was ashamed. "I know that it's petty that I've held a grudge for so long."

Lily gave a sympathetic smile. "I can empathize. He's definitely not the nicest boy to be around and his pranks are often more cruel than funny."

Ben avoided looking at Lily's face and was picking at the grass in front of him. He looked so vulnerable revealing this to her. She felt sorry for him. She reached over to touch his arm and he raised his head to meet her emerald eyes. He smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry if it seemed like I was in a foul mood this morning. I really didn't mean to. It's just that you kept looking towards the pitch and I suppose it upset me that you were paying more attention to him than you were to me."

His face was so innocently disappointed that she couldn't help but excuse his earlier behaviour. "Oh that's okay. I understand, although I was definitely not looking at Potter. I just wish I were there to watch Shay and Julia; I never miss tryouts but I got the dates mixed up so it's entirely my fault."

Ben's face lit up immediately. "Oh, well then let's just put this behind us." She noted his smile was genuine this time. His smile reached his eyes; it was as if a great weight was lifted off his chest. "Would you care to join me for a butterbeer?" He held up the bottles and wiggled them with a silly smile. Lily couldn't help but laughed for the first time since she left the Great Hall.

"Sure."

* * *

James Potter was hovering approximately seventy feet in the air overlooking the tryouts. He combed his hand through his unruly hair and turned to watch the potential seekers. He had transfigured a handful of rocks into golf balls and charmed them to whiz around like an actual snitch. He noted that they didn't fly as fast. Instead of flying smoothly and making sharp turns they shivered and wobbled unsteadily, and they dropped a few feet when changing directions. He chuckled to himself, thinking how he knew that if Lily were to charm them, they would fly faultlessly. Following that train of thought he remembered just where Lily was right now. He scowled. Recollecting this morning when she left, he pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled slowly. He hated how she made him snap and act so ridiculous. They had such a good thing going the night before! Why did he have to go and ruin it?

Before he could continue beating himself up, he caught the _crack_ of a reinforced bat hitting a cast iron ball paired with Sirius's signature grunt. Further down the pitch, Shay and Sirius were beating the ball back and forth. The beaters isolated themselves away from everyone else so that the other players wouldn't be targeted while they did their respective practices. Usually other senior players would be there with them but since Julia was still absent and James had to observe the group to select his new players, the pair was left alone on the opposite end of the pitch.

He should have known better.

Shay pulled her arm back, ready for the bludger that was raging towards her. She swung and relished in the familiar _crack_. The bludger raced towards Sirius. Unprepared for its speed and its violent attempt to decapitate him, Sirius quickly rolled, his body falling under his broom. He dropped a few feet as he tried to recover from the shock. He looked over his shoulder and watched the bludger fly towards the stands before whipping around towards him for a second try. He scrambled back on top of his broom and barely caught the bludger with the tip of his bat. _Crack._

"What the bloody hell was that?" He yelled at her, glaring. "You aimed for my head!"

She shrugged and tossed the bat back and forth between her hands while effortlessly staying balanced atop of her broom. "I thought we were practicing. You should have gotten that one. What if Julia or James were right behind you? You would have cost us a chaser."

"_Bullshit!_ That was totally uncalled for. You did that out of spite!" Sirius quickly looked around for the bludger which was making its way behind Shay. "That was personal." He glared at her.

She scoffed. "Not everything is about you, Mutt." _Crack. _Without looking, she somersaulted on her broom, backhanded the bludger that crept up behind her, and rolled back right-side-up.

Sirius dove towards the ball which was getting dangerously close to the stands, and batted it towards Shay. _Crack_. "If I didn't dodge, you would have knocked me off my broom."

"Well actually, I thought you would hit―"

"No, you were aiming to hit ME. You nearly _maimed_ me!" Sirius took a deep breath to try to calm himself down. She was infuriating_._

Again, Shay shrugged and readied herself for the ball. "Now would that really be so bad?" _Crack._ "At least if you had Madame Pomfrey repair your mutilated skull, she could potentially do something about your lack of cranial capacity."

"What the hell is your problem?" This time, Sirius batted the bludger towards the ground to buy himself a moment to speak. "What the bloody hell have I ever done to you to make you hate me that much?

"Are you seriously asking me that?" She let out a hollow laugh. "Wow, you have even less brain cells than I gave you credit for."

"Oh shut up, Fang. I don't get it, it's like you woke up one day and decided to hate me."

She growled at him and her pretty blond eyebrows creased tetchily. "First of all, it's not that simple. Second of all, do you even remember that exact day when I allegedly 'woke up and decided to hate you'?"

Sirius looked at her in confusion. "W-what?"

"Merlin, you are _so_ stupid." She rolled her eyes. "Think back, you fool."

"It was… halfway through third year." He looked around the pitch as if the space around him would reveal the motive that fuelled her strong loathing.

"Exactly." _Crack._ Shay smacked away the bludger which attempted to knock her off her broom from her blind side. "And what momentous thing happened around that time?"

He paused, thinking. And then, "_Argh!" _Sirius shook his head in frustration. "I don't know!"

"Here's a hint. You Marauders refer to it as Remus's 'furry little problem'."

Sirius went from to confused to shocked to confused faster than you can say Quidditch. "How does Remus and his… _issues_ have anything to do with us?" He scanned around for the bludger.

"Come on, Black. That was when you guys finally found out about his issues."

_Crack. _"Yeah, so?" He was still confused.

"Keep thinking, you daft mongrel! What else happened that year? If you really think you deserve to know, at least prove to me that you're able to figure it out without me spoon-feeding it to you."

"Quit it! For Merlin sakes, I'm only trying to figure out what the hell your bloody problem is you have with me so maybe I could― oh I don't know― FIX it! But based on the way you torment me all the time, I don't even know if it's worth it. I thought that maybe I owed it to James to make nice with you but you're making it so freaking difficult!"

_Crack._ This time, she hit the bludger towards him, not caring if it would fail or succeed at unseating him. She was angry now. _She _tormented_ him_?It wasn't her fault that she hated him but here he was, blaming it all on her. "It was me! You found out about _me_ in third year. You were the only one left who didn't know and after I heard how well you took Remus being the occasional beast―"

"Hey, you watch your mouth!" He hissed, "We're in public."

She ignored him and continued. "Do you remember how you reacted?" Her eyes narrowed. "You. Freaked. Out! You looked at me like I was going to_ eat_ _you!" _

He was shocked and sloppily returned the bludger. _Crack._ She was probably right. He hazily recalled a time when she pulled him aside one day and divulged her secret. But why did it even matter how he took it? "How the hell was I supposed to react?"

He caught a flicker of pain in her features. "Maybe you could have reacted the same way you did for him." Her voice lost volume. "You knew what he was and yet you accepted him wholeheartedly."

"Er, well he's my best mate and I―"

She cut him off. "So what if he was a vampire instead?"

_Why was she asking this?_ "Uh, I don't know. Why does that matter? He isn't one!"

"But he's still what he is! He still has the urge to hurt people, to kill people. He can't control it but he would still rip apart a human being when he's out of his right mind. Humans are his prey."

"Whoa, Remus wouldn't hurt a fly! It's the wolf inside of him so it isn't even his fault. How could I possibly hate him for that? He didn't ask for it."

"And you think I did?" Shay's voice almost broke. She swung her bat with unnecessary inhuman force, forcing Sirius to dive out of its path. "How the hell are we different from each other? Why does he deserve acceptance and I don't?"

"Remus can't help what he turns into and he's only like that once a month," Sirius defended. He didn't know why Shay was bringing this up. He saw the bludger in his peripheral vision and decided it was time to turn the tables. He swung his bat, heard that blissful _crack_ and watched the bludger race towards Shay for once. "_You're_ a killer monster ALL THE TIME!"

_Crack._

It must have happened in an instant but to Sirius, it was like time slowed down just enough to mock him. Shay had frozen at his words, her eyes wide and her lips slightly ajar. Her arms slacked on either side of her, her fingers barely gripping her bat. But all he could see was the deep-rooted anguish on her face. The unspoken '_how could you?'_ thundered in his ears. He had crossed the line that he was always so careful to stay behind. It was like he was looking at his foot over _that_ _line_ and wished with every fibre of his being that he was still safely behind it. Shay didn't return the bludger or dodge like she usually did. It wasn't that familiar crack that he heard so often during Quidditch matches and practices but the sickening crunch of the iron bludger ripping through Shay's broom, snapping her arm and crashing into her left side, no doubt breaking numerous ribs in the process. She was lifted off the splintered wood and hovered for an agonizing moment as the bludger struggled to clear her from its path. Then her body slipped off the ball and began to plunge towards the ground faster than he could pull out his wand.

From above, James's attention was caught by the yelling on the other side of the pitch. Then suddenly, he watched in horror as the light-haired witch was sent off her broom. He raced towards her, his wand outstretched and praying with all his might that his spell would reach her as he roared out her name.

_"SHAY!"_

**Author's Note: What did you think? Leave a review and let me know! The next chapter will be up within the next two weeks... or week depending on if you leave a review! Thanks for reading.**_  
_


	10. Act 2, Part V

**Disclaimer: Anything recognizable is not mine.**

**Author's Note: Please Read, Enjoy, & Review.**

"_SHAY!"_

Lily snapped towards the sound so fast that she heard a sharp _crack_ from her neck. But she didn't feel it. In fact, she couldn't feel anything. A million thoughts shot anxiously through her mind as the rest of her body grew numb. The colour drained from her body, replaced by a frigid chill that tore up her spine and spread outwards, leaving her fingers ridged and unfeeling. The cry sounded like such a primal roar that fear reverberated her core. '_Shay'_. _That's what they yelled, right?_ Her breaths shortened and her heart raced in panic. What had happened that could cause someone to scream for her that way? She thought she caught a flicker of white floating towards the ground before it disappeared from her vision, obscured by the stands. The butterbeer slipped through her fingers and softly sank into the chequered cloth beneath her. She jumped to her feet. She scrambled to collect her things and Ben just watched her in confusion, oblivious to the source of her panic.

"Lily, what's the matter?" She barely heard him and continued to sloppily force her arm into her cloak sleeve. "Lily! Calm down!"

Most people were unaware of this but telling Lily Evans to calm down or relax only resulted in the exact opposite effect. "How can you tell me to calm down when someone just bellowed my best friend's name?" Lily was shrieking but she couldn't help it. Shay potentially fell from tens of feet in the air and Lily has no way of knowing what happened unless she made her way to the Quidditch pitch.

"I'm sure she's fine, Lils." Her eyes narrowed. _Why did that sound so irritating coming from him?_ "Either way, I'm sure they don't want to cause a scene and there are so many people there already. Crowding wouldn't be very helpful." He gave her a soft smile, encouraging her to stay. "If anything, we can just check the hospital wing afterwards."

But this only made her want to leave all the more urgently. The mention of the hospital wing cemented her suspicions. If anything happened to Shay, Lily had to be there. She straightened up and began to make her way to the castle with the intent of intercepting the Quidditch team on their way to the hospital wing. But before she could bolt, Ben caught her arm and blurted out, "Be my girlfriend."

She whipped around to face him, the shock of his statement momentarily pushing her panic aside. "Ben―"

"Lily, I really like you and I think that we could be something great! I mean, didn't you enjoy today?" Lily just stared, unmoving. "Look, I promise that I'll be faithful, I'll make you laugh and I'll show you a good time. I'll put in the effort to make this work and I promise that I'm not one of those jerks that just want the pretty girl as arm candy. Come on Lily, what do you say?" His words were quick and his eyes were hopeful.

Lily's eyes repeatedly darted between Ben and the castle, thinking that there couldn't possibly be a worse time for this to happen. All she wanted was to escape from his grasp and be by Shay's side but at the same time, she owed Ben a genuine thoughtful response. He looked so hopeful like a child asking for a treat and she would hate to see his face crushed, knowing it would be entirely her fault. But when the elevating noise from the pitch reached her ears and she knew that she had to get going.

"Lily?" He had the look of an abused puppy.

"Er―" She started to struggle against his hold.

He took her hand in both of his. "Lily, I just feel so comfortable with you, I even shared a piece of myself with you this morning that I've kept inside for so―"

"Fine!" His grip loosened enough for Lily to retract her hand. "I've got to run." With that, she ran from her newly appointed beau thinking, _'what did I just get myself into?'_

* * *

Remus lied.

There was no way they were going to catch the end of the Quidditch tryouts. Julia stared at her parchment and groaned loudly, causing a few heads to turn her way and Madame Pince to sharply shush her. Julia couldn't help it. She was just so bored! It's been over an hour and she's barely written half a foot. Professor Binns, the history of magic teacher, had assigned a three feet minimum essay on the muggle persecution of witches and the history of punishments for what they claimed to be malevolent sorcery in Egypt and Babylonia in the eighteenth century. She dropped her face onto the table with a _thump_. Why did they have to do this in the first place? It was so pointless. The whole point of history was to learn from it and prevent unwanted events from repeating itself. Witch hunts were caused by muggle misunderstandings and the magical community's refusal to come out of the proverbial closet. And thanks to the Muggle Protection Act, the Ministry wasn't about to come clean anytime soon. Therefore muggles will never see the truth and they'll always be suspicious of wizards. So as part of that static magical community, why learn about history?

Julia shifted so her bright cerulean eyes landed on Remus. They were in his favourite spot in the library again. He was sitting across the table leaning back on his chair with his ankle crossed over the opposite knee, reading. His tie hung loose and his sleeves were rolled up, the muscles in his arms shifting tantilizingly as his finger followed the words on the page. She swallowed. She noticed that the flicker of the candle light accented his features. He had that ruggedly handsome look, which paired with his contrasting kind polite mannerism made him positively alluring.

But she knew that it was more than just a physical attraction. They had a history. He used to be her neighbour and best friend. They learned how to walk together, to talk together, and to read together. They played house together, built sandcastles together, and played tag together. Then she remembered back in fourth year when she had first come to realize how much her feelings towards her childhood friend had changed. She lost the power of speech around him. She was so nervous when he would come up to her; she would look at her feet and refuse to meet his eyes. She would pull at the ends of her sleeves just to preoccupy her hands and suppress the urge to touch him. She looked at her shirt now, smiling at how the hem of her sleeve was worn. But it was all in the past. Closing her eyes, she willed herself to push those thoughts aside.

"Hey Jules." Julia looked up. Even in the slight candlelight, she could make out a faint red glow on his cheeks. "Sorry, it's just I've been calling you and you looked like you were dozing off." His voice was soft and coaxing.

"Oh no, don't worry about it. I wasn't sleeping." She slowly rose from her essay. "Although I might if I have to keep writing this."

She heard him chuckle at her crankiness. Remus was shuffling his papers and organizing his books from around his seat. He had folded down the corners of a few pages. "I took the liberty of finding a few texts that might help with your essay. I tried to mark which part of the page I found useful or noteworthy but I realized that getting ink on library books would be consi―" He lifted his gaze and stopped.

When he didn't say anything Julia started to panic. Was there something wrong? Maybe it was something with her paper. She's been working on it for so long (or at least what _she_ considered a long time) and it was already so painstakingly difficult to continue. But when she looked back at him, she saw a smile start to creep onto his face. Her confusion must have furthered his amusement because he started to chuckle quietly.

Still worried she asked, "What is it?"

He composed himself a little and pointed at her cheek. "You've got a little…" But his familiarly comforting smile lingered, framed by lips so delectable they were wasted on mere speech.

He face flushed. "What?" She raised her hand to her face to wipe at the indicated area.

Clearly it didn't do much good since the motion only made his smile widen. Remus grabbed a blank piece of parchment and silently transfigured it into a soft cloth. He dabbed it on his tongue to dampen it and crooked his finger, motioning for her to lean in. Julia hesitated a moment before obediently closing the distance between them. If she thought her face was coloured before, her cheeks must be as blatantly red as traffic lights now. She was nervous but she forcefully feigned indifference to his nearness. Could he hear the heartbeat hammering against her chest just as she could hear it pounding in her ears? It only got worse when he gently cupped her face to dab at the ink that was smudged across her heated face. He was just too damn _close_. Only inches apart, Julia swore she could count each one of his dark thick eyelashes. She scanned over his familiar face. She remembered a time when she would watch him just to memorize every curve and was pleasantly surprised that she hadn't forgotten a single thing. His eyes were light and on the bluish side of grey. They were magnetizing; inviting her to indulge her curiosity like a mysterious thick fog with a questionable depth. His skin was pale and rough but not dry. His nose was charmingly crooked as if it was broken on more than one occasion. She noticed a bit of stubble along his jaw as if he hadn't shaved in a day which only added to his rugged look. Her eyebrows furrowed when she looked over the thin, barely noticeable scars that patterned his face. There were two larger scars: one above his left eye and the other starting from below the right side of his jaw and ending at the middle of his cheek. His left eyebrow had a gap where the first scar interrupted. She remembered tracing her thumb over it numerous times, asking where it came from without answer. His sandy brown hair was tied loosely at the nape of his neck by a thick teal ribbon. She smiled. _He still had it._ She could never forget how he used to let her free his hair and comb her fingers through the silky threads before he would lean down to kiss her.

Julia barely registered her hand slowly rising out of its own accord, reaching out towards him. Remus seemed to catch the movement and his expression became bittersweet. "Jules…" Her name caught in his throat.

But before either of them could comment, Julia winced and her hands flew to her temples. '_Shay's in trouble. Oh my God. There's so much blood! What am I supposed to do? Oh Merlin. Julia, get to the hospital wing now!'_ The voice attacked Julia's mind so violently that she flinched away from Remus.

"Jules. Julia! What's wrong." There was panic in his voice. "Julia, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." Her eyes flickered open again. "Wait, no. Why did I just say that?" She started to franticly pack her things. "Shay's at the hospital wing. Something must have happened during Quidditch practice. Lily was just projecting again."

Remus got up to help her, shovelling the things on the tables into their respective bags. "Projecting?"

"Yeah, it's like Legilimens. But not really." She quickly gathered her quills and ink, not caring if it would spill in her bag. "Are you familiar with muggle walkie-talkies?" She didn't wait for him to nod. "It works basically like that but only when, where, and with whom she chooses." Julia's words were rushed. With one last look at the table and deeming it free of her possessions, she spared him a quick glance. "You know how special Lily is. It doesn't happen often but this invading our minds thing comes in handy. Let's go."

* * *

James ran his hand through his unruly raven locks for the umpteenth time today. It was a nervous habit and nervous was a colossal understatement for his current state. He was at present actively pacing a hole into the floor. He sighed and faced the white drapes that currently surrounded Shay's hospital bed as Madame Pomfrey tended to her. He looked at his roughened hands which only moments before were coated in blood.

It was the most terrifying moment he had ever experienced on the pitch. He watched Shay while she sank through the air like it was viscous. Her arm was angled very wrong, her broom splintered and falling next to her. Her blood sprinkled the sky like rubies in her wake. He faintly remembered Sirius diving down behind him; his screams echoed his own. James fired a string of spells, any and every charm he could think of to stop her or to slow her fall or to cushion the incoming collision with the ground. The illusion of her sinking slowly only mocked him with the challenge to save her. Eventually Sirius caught her with a charm that significantly slowed her body's descent and James partially succeeded in transfiguring the ground below her into water, the result being a compromise of mud.

Lady Luck was in a spiteful mood as the muddy pond was unfortunately shallow. By the time James fished her out, he noticed that her arm was bleeding profusely and there was a large gash on the back of her head. He reacted hastily. He levitated her to avoid her injuries and Sirius shot a jet of water to rinse the layer of dirt off her body. James delegated Derek the task of crowd control and to dismiss the players with the promise of reschedule. He and Sirius rushed to the hospital wing, Sirius frantically explaining and apologizing but James barely heard a word. His sole focus was Shay. His hand was supporting the back of her head and applying pressure, uncertain of its efficacy as blood seeped through his fingers and puddled the floors. By the time as they approached the doors, Lily came running towards them and without stopping, she pushed the door open for them to cross the threshold of the hospital wing and demanded the healer's attention.

Madame Pomfrey has had Shay isolated behind curtains for over a half hour already and James was becoming more anxious by the second. Julia and Remus had joined them soon after Shay had been admitted. They were all currently in the waiting room with Lily, Julia, and Remus sitting next to each other. Julia was trying to quiet her sniffles and gratefully accepted tissues when Remus handed them to her. Lily fisted the top of her grey skirt in her lap, her eyes stoically focused on the white curtain. She was ready to spring off her seat the moment Madame Pomfrey emerged from them. Sirius was standing still against the door, guilty.

When James's eyes landed on Sirius, he raised his head and pushed off the wooden surface. "I'm so sorry Prongs―"

"Shut it." James turned away from him, determined to shut him out.

"―I swear I didn't mean to knock her off her broom―"

"Shut up, Sirius."

"―I told you this before! I thought she would hit it!"

James snapped at him. He was never very good at ignoring people anyways. That was more of a Remus trait. "Don't you _dare_ try to pin this on her," he growled.

"Look, Prongs, we were just practicing like usual. We hit the bludger back and forth. She always hits it back!"

"This isn't just because she didn't swing," James growled. "It's what you _said_ that made her stop."

Sirius hunched his shoulders and lowered his head so he was looking up at James. Despite being taller, James made him feel belittled. He grovelled, "We always argue, James. How was I to know that she'd flip out?"

"You crossed a line, Sirius. You know that certain things are off-limits. But you had to go there anyways." James's hand flew to his hair and he sighed, exasperated. "For Merlin's sake, why do you have this deranged need to win all the time?"

"I don't―" Sirius stammered weakly, more stunned from the truth of his words than from the accusation itself.

"Yes you do! You treat it like a game, as if you get a prize for winning every fight you have with her. Well, look." James thrust his finger towards where Shay rested. "You've won. Are you satisfied now?"

"James―"

"You always have to run your mouth. You never actually think before you speak, do you?"

"Prongs I swear I didn't mean to―"

"You just don't get it, do you? You could have _killed_ her!"

"Oh come on mate, she's the one who started it!" Sirius's voice was a desperate cry. Frustrated and defensive, he lost sight of point of this conversation. He was supposed to be grovelling for forgiveness but, once again, his mouth got the better of him. James looked at him with a heavy glare that had Sirius cowering beneath it. He has only seen that look once before and at the time, he vowed that he would never be on the receiving end ever again. It was that look of betrayal, pain, and retrained anger. It was the same look back in fifth year when Sirius led Snape to the Shrieking Shack and used Remus at his most dangerous as a prop for a twisted prank. He _hated_ that look. He hated it because under peels of anger and resentment was a churning sea of disappointment. That look alone made Sirius question whether or not his actions threatened their friendship and jeopardized their brotherhood.

James slammed his hand on the door. Sirius flinched. The sound of his palm hitting the wood was worse than a slap across the face. Julia jumped in her seat from the other side of the room and her hand instinctively flew to Remus's arm for comfort. Remus looked on at the pair, a mixture of disappointment and anticipation across his face. Even Lily tore her eyes away from Shay to look at them.

James dropped his hand to his side. "Get. Out." His voice was firm and demanding. His hands were balled into fists, trembling. James was angry but he refused to be impetuous. Those were the only two words he could trust himself to force out before clamping his jaw, afraid that he would regret any more.

Sirius sensed that James's patience with him had quickly expired. He looked away submissively and slipped out the door, too ashamed to look at the others. Aside from the soft shuffling behind the white curtain, the protesting whine of the door's hinges was the only sound in the otherwise silent and sombre waiting room.

**Author's Note: I apologize but studying for my exam postponed my initial plan of an earlier update. I can't promises when next update will be but reviews are my favourite motivation to keep me writing! So please leave a review and tell me what you thought.  
**


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